109 — Ambassador Archive announces two poster-editions pointing to significant histories at the Ambassador: Bobby Kennedy’s assassination in 1968 and film productions through the years.

The first edition is a remake of the Bobby Kennedy presidential campaign poster for his California primary victory party at the Ambassador. We purchased the poster, itself a reproduction of the original, through Ebay. After winning the primary on June 4, 1968, Kennedy was shot and killed in the hotel’s pantry while on his way to a press conference in the Embassy Ballroom. More than thirty years later, during the debate as to whether the hotel should be preserved or razed, Kennedy’s shooter, Sirhan Sirhan, who is serving a life sentence for the murder, actually supported the preservation effort. The Kennedy family, however, sided with LAUSD’s decision to tear down the hotel and build an educational multiplex.

The second edition depicts layers of wallpaper excavated from the poolside cabanas shortly before demolition. It is one of many layers covering the hotel’s walls as a result of numerous film shoots. Throughout its eighty-some year history, the Ambassador served as backdrop for thousands of major motion picture productions, from “The Graduate” (1967), “Pretty Woman” (1990), and “The Mask” (1994), to the soon to be released, “Bobby” (2006). ”Bobby”, written and directed by Emilio Estevez, was the last studio film shot at the Ambassador. It will be released in Los Angeles and New York on November 17.

Also beginning on November 17, the poster-editions will be seen around Los Angeles, New York and Cincinnati. They will be on view with the Ambassador Archive website in the group exhibition "Bunch Alliance and Dissolve," curated by Public Holiday Projects, at the Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati.

The Archive would like to express a very special thanks to Mark Wenger, the 291 Digital staff, and Dominic Mangila.



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