Dunbar Hotel

Los Angeles

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The Dunbar was a luxury hotel built in 1928 in this predominantly African-American neighborhood, at a time when segregation barred African-Americans from comparable facilities elsewhere. Prominent guests included entertainment legends Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Bessie Smith and Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson, poet and playwright Langston Hughes, boxer Joe Louis and historian and civil-rights activist WEB Du Bois.

The hotel went into decline in the 1960s but has since been renovated into senior housing.

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