Villa Riviera Hotel

 United States > California > Los Angeles County > Long Beach

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Cars park on Ocean Boulevard as it passes the Villa Riviera Hotel in Long Beach. A ramp to the right of the hotel leads down to the beach. A palm tree is planted on each lawn on either side of the walkway leading to the hotel entrance.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.