The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - The City Council on Tuesday voted to transform a historic Hollywood nightclub - where an unknown Marilyn Monroe held her first wedding reception - into the city’s newest fire station.
City engineers originally recommended demolition of Florentine Gardens on Hollywood Boulevard to make room for the new station, but after activists protested, the plan was redrawn to keep the building’s historic facade and gut the inside to make way for the firefighters.
The Council’s vote Tuesday clears the way for officials to begin negotiations to buy and remodel the building.
During the club’s heyday in the 1940s, Florentine Gardens featured singers, chorus girls and even trapeze artists. Bette Grable, Lana Turner, Tyrone Power and band leader Harry James were among its celebrity patrons. Songstress and comedian Sophie Tucker often performed there as well, said Margaret Burk, a former publicist for the rival club, the Cocoanut Grove.
Monroe, then Norma Jeane Mortensen, held her 1942 wedding reception to James Dougherty there.
In recent years, the club has attracted a young crowd with salsa bands and hip hop.
Opponents say the city is losing a gem.
“The tragedy is the city is going to end up buying some of the most expensive real estate in Hollywood, and they’re going to destroy a landmark in the name of building a fire station that isn’t centrally located,” said Bill Hooey, spokesman for the Save Florentine Gardens Committee. “You don’t tear down a piece of Hollywood history. It’s just wrong.”
But many neighbors said the station was needed to cut down response time, and the Council agreed.
“Our first obligation is to public safety, above all else,” Councilman Eric Garcetti said.
About $378.6 million was allocated for 19 new fire stations in 2000, thanks to a ballot measure approved by Los Angeles residents in 2000.