DON DECAYS : End May Be Near for Storied Wilmington Hotel, Now a ‘Rattrap’

William Randolph Hearst maintained a suite there, and Bing Crosby, another frequent guest, probably sipped drinks at the bar.

But in recent years, Wilmington’s Don Hotel, a downtown fixture on Avalon Boulevard, has catered to less prestigious folk, primarily homeless people who receive vouchers to stay there through a Los Angeles County welfare program.

Now, it appears, the Don’s days may be numbered.

Los Angeles building and safety officials say the hotel, which was put up for sale two weeks ago, faces the threat of condemnation because its owner has failed to reinforce it against earthquakes after being ordered to do so four years ago.

Owner Cesar Lopez could not be reached for comment. He has been ordered to appear Aug. 18 before the city’s Board of Building and Safety Commissioners to explain his lack of compliance, according to Steve Kirste, a building department supervisor.

Could Be Demolished

Kirste said the board could order the 4-story brick hotel vacated immediately for the safety of its residents, who would be relocated to other hotels. And at last resort, he said, if no progress is made toward reinforcing the building, the board could order it demolished.

“In a major earthquake,” Kirste said, “that building is going to be a pile of rubble.”

Meanwhile, the real estate agent who is trying to sell the Don for $5.5 million says the hotel’s earthquake problems won’t harm her plans because most of the developers who are interested in buying it want to tear it down anyway.

“Our developers, they wish to just raze it and start over,” said Laura Warren of Call Realty. “As far as earthquake work being done, they’re not interested.”

Warren said the prospective buyers come from various countries--among them Japan, India and Korea--and are primarily interested in developing the site for commercial purposes, possibly office space. “Chances are pretty good that it will not remain a hotel,” she said.

Seen as Good Sign

Community leaders view the potential sale of the Don as a good sign. They hope it indicates a turnaround in downtown Wilmington, a return, perhaps, to the days when the middle class--if not the rich and famous--frequented the Avalon Boulevard business district.

City officials and business leaders are trying to have the boulevard declared a redevelopment zone and use a variety of programs to revitalize what was once a grand thoroughfare leading to the harbor.

Residents and business people say the dilapidated Don hurts those efforts.

Ralph Chadwick, president of the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce, said he hopes that new owners of the hotel will “bring people into the community for positive commercial purposes.”

Asking Price Doubted

But because of the Don’s run-down state, some don’t think it can fetch the $5.5-million asking price.

“It’s a rattrap,” groused James Castaldi, owner of the nearby Harbor Lights Cocktail Lounge. “He’s lucky if he gets a million.”

However, Warren said the price is reasonable because the building is in the middle of a proposed state “enterprise zone” that would offer tax credits to new or expanded businesses.

“It’s right smack dab in the middle of the enterprise zone that they want to pass, and it’s surrounded by major truck routes,” she said. “It’s right at the heart of the harbor, and it’s probably the cheapest office space in the whole South Bay area. . . . A smart person now would go to Wilmington for investment.”

Once an elegant crash pad for the rich and famous who docked their yachts at the foot of Avalon Boulevard in the 1930s, the Don today retains little of its former charm. Its paint is peeling; its elevator is being repaired. The burnt orange-and-gold geometric-patterned carpet is fading and soiled, and spokes are missing from its stairway rails, like teeth knocked out of a prizefighter’s mouth.

The only hint of the hotel’s former stature is the chandelier in the mostly barren lobby. Yet even that is neglected, its faux candles crooked and missing their flame-shaped bulbs.

No one seems to know precisely how the Don got its name or what year it was built, although it was in the 1920s. Many Wilmington residents have fond memories of Sunday breakfasts in the hotel’s dining room and of the bellhops who waited on red carpet for guests to pull up.

The hotel, which has 135 rooms and space for retail businesses on the first floor, has changed hands several times since then. A bank took possession of it at one point and sold it in 1946 for $342,000. In 1959--at least a decade past its prime--it was sold again for an unknown price to two maritime unions, which reserved part of it for their members to use when in port. It is unclear when Lopez bought the Don.

Rooms for Homeless

For at least four years, the hotel has participated in the county’s general relief program. County officials say 25 people who get county aid for the homeless live at the Don permanently, and the hotel accepts as many as 45 additional aid recipients each week.

Despite the Don’s history, no one interviewed seemed ready to take up the cause of saving it. Even those who said they would like to see the hotel renovated were skeptical about whether that could be accomplished and said they would be just as happy to see something new and clean go up in the Don’s place.

“I love the building, I think it’s fabulous, it’s a great landmark,” said Simie Seaman, a community activist. “But what is it on the inside? What does it take to fix it up? . . . If the right person got hold of it, then it could be fabulous, but the wrong thing going in there could kill us.”

Even Marge O’Brien, a staunch advocate of preservation who directs Wilmington’s Drum Barracks Civil War Museum, said she is uncertain that the Don is worth preserving.

“It would be a shame if it came down,” she said, “but it would be even more of a shame if it’s left standing there the way it is.”