Christian Lewis: Cocoanut Grove Etched Bronze Doors

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The last remaining photo of the original entry way.

Full size 6' x 8' pen and ink drawing.

Paul Armstrong and Dalton Jannuzzi, installation time.

Finished product.

Los Angeles Daily News, July 10 2010.

Here are some photos hot off the press from the famous Cocoanut Grove project. We were commissioned to replicate the original bronze doors that disappeared mysteriously during one of the many restorations that started with Sammy Davis Jr. in 1978. This night club was originally built in the 1920's and played host to celebrities from Samuel Goldwyn and Douglas Fairbanks to

Frank Sinatra and Donna Summer. The club was nestled in the Ambassador Hotel where Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated. The site was acquired by by the Los Angeles Unified School District after a ten year battle with Donald Trump, a host of celebrities, the Los Angeles Historical Society and the Art Deco Preservation Society. It has been turned into the most expensive school ever to be built by the district with a whopping $ 600,000,000.00 price tag. The demolitions of the hotel and the club began in 2005.

By the time we got the commission there was only a single photo left for research purposes and a bad one at that. We spent about a month and a half back and forth to the library and LA City Hall before we were ready to start the preliminary sketches for approvals involving a variety of agencies. I did a full size drawing, which was then India inked cross hatch style, digitized and sent over to the etchers Creative Metal Industries in San Diego who completed the etching of the bronze panels and patina process. All in All about 300 man hours including research. I did this work with Republic Fence Co. Inc., as well as quite a few other items on the interior of the Cocoanut Grove and also a variety of items in the Robert F. Kennedy Inspiration Park.

I will be doing further posts of this project as the bronze "Monkey Door" panels and overhead transoms are quite enough for this particular post.

Thanks for visitng MetalGraphic, Christian Lewis.

Image and Post property of Christian Lewis Productions.