Villa Riviera Hotel

 USA > California > Los Angeles County > Long Beach

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Cars are parked at the entrance to the Villa Riviera Hotel on Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach. A large sign, V - R Hotel, sits like a crown on top of the roof tower. An American flag flies opposite the hotel next to an advertisement showing a mechanic with a lubricating gun and magnifying glass and with a logo "Extra Careful Lubrication".The Villa Riviera Hotel, 800 East Ocean Boulevard, constructed in 1929, was second in height at that time only to Los Angeles City Hall. Its architect, Richard D. King, won a grand prize at an international contest for his design of the sixteen-story building. The cost of construction was over two million dollars. At one time, Joseph M. Schenck of Twentieth Century-Fox and Norma Talmadge, then his wife, owned the hotel. It survived the Long Beach earthquake with only plaster cracks which were easily repaired and is a Long Beach landmark.