Historical Status for Embassy Urged

The Embassy Auditorium--a mecca for jazz for many years in Los Angeles before falling on lean times--has been recommended for designation as a historical monument by the city’s Cultural Heritage Commission.

The building’s east facade, auditorium and dome are part of the city’s architectural tradition that should be preserved, commission member and architect Bernard Judge said Wednesday.

The building, at 847 S. Grand Ave., was built in 1912 and was used for the premiere of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1917. In its heyday in the 1940s and ‘50s, Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Charlie Parker were among the jazz greats who regularly appeared.