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Main • Issue Summary • History • In the News • |
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CENTURY PLAZA: MOMENTS IN HISTORY August 13, 1969 "Dinner of the Century" Honors Apollo 11 Astronauts
August 13, 2009 marks the fortieth anniversary of President Nixon's presidential dinner held at the Century Plaza Hotel, honoring the Apollo 11 astronauts for the first manned landing on the moon. The "Dinner of the Century," as it was called in the Los Angeles Times, was "one of the largest, most pretigious, and most publicized state dinners in history," wrote The New York Times. According to The Washington Post, when the White House contacted Harry Mullikin, vice president of Western International Hotels and managing director of the Century Plaza, about hosting the dinner at the hotel, Mullikin asked, "Why here?" White House staff replied, "Well, isn't yours the most beautiful hotel in the world?"
The evening's honored guests were astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin along with their wives and the wives of fallen U.S. astronauts. President Nixon awaraded the men the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. Around 1,500 guests attended the dinner, including forty-four governors, every U.S. Cabinet member except Attorney General John N. Mitchell, the Supreme Court, fifty astronauts, diplomats from more than ninety countries, important figures in the history of aviation and space flight, a delegation from the entertainment world, and a group of Republican politicians and fund raisers.
Original decor ideas included the Wright Brothers' original plane, Charles Lindbergh's "Spirit of St. Louis," and the Apollo 11 space capsule, but "the plan was discarded... because the Apollo 11 was too big to get through the hotel's largest doors," according to the Los Angeles Times. The Century Plaza was the perfect venue for the celebration, with its space-age design and location on Avenue of the Stars and Constellation Boulevard, in front of the Celestial Fountain. The dinner's space theme included "moon rock" petit fours and a special dessert invented for the evening, Claire de Lunes. The menu contained the finest foods from around the world, including gooseberries from New Zealand and Dungeness crab fingers from Seattle. During the dinner, songs such as "Fly Me to the Moon," "Moon Over Miami," and "Moonglow" played for the guests. The arrival of President and Mrs. Nixon was said to be better than any Hollywood premiere, by The Washington Post, when the couple descended by helicopter in the back parking lot of the hotel. That evening, three thousand peaceful demonstrators gathered outside the hotel to protest the Vietnam War.
The president, astronauts, and their wives stayed in luxurious Presidential and Royal Suites, complete wtih baby grand pianos. For the ordinary hotel guests, suites cost $120 a day in 1969 and included a bar, two color TVs, two bathrooms, one bedroom, a parlor, and two balconies. The astronauts facing the garden side of the hotel had views of 20th Century-Fox's set for the TV series Peyton Place. This important event in the history of Los Angeles and the nation left lasting memories for all involved. “As the fleet of helicopters began flying the nation’s leaders back to their everyday tasks, the work of the hotel’s 1100 employees slowly settled down to normal. Remaining was an enormous sense of pride that a great moment of history had unfolded here. Waiters and doormen hurried home to describe their personal encounters with the leaders of our nation and the celebrated astronauts. “ - Los Angeles Times, Spetember 1, 1969
The Apollo 11 mission was the first manned landing on the moon, the fifth human spaceflight of Project Apollo, and the third human voyage to the moon or moon orbit. Launched on July 16, 1969, it carried Mission Commander Neil Alden Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Eugene 'Buzz' Aldrin, Jr. On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to land on the moon, while Collins orbited above. Sources: The Washington Post: Apollo 11 To Star On Earth (Aug., 13, 1969), Seating Problems Slow Dinner Guests (Aug. 14, 1969); The New York Times: Nation Plans Mammoth Welcome (July 23, 1969), Nixon Is Host in Los Angeles At a State Dinner for 3 Men (Aug. 14, 1969); Los Angeles Times: The Dinner of the Century (Sept. 30, 1969), Antiwar Pickets Fail to Notice Nixon's Arrival (Aug. 14, 1969); Astronauts Will Be Host: Lindbergh, 79 Other Aviation Greats Asked to Apollo Dinner (Aug. 1, 1969). June 23, 1967 Vietnam Protest Turns Violent; Changes Antiwar Movement
On June 23, 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson attended a Democratic Party fundraiser at the Century Plaza Hotel. At the nearby Cheviot Hills playground, a coalition of eighty antiwar groups gathered for a rally protesting U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, with speakers including Dr. Benjamin Spock and Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali).
According to news reports, the plan was for a peaceful march down Avenue of the Stars, passing in front of the hotel and continuing around the block. Based on speculation that the crowd might “rush” the hotel, a massive security force was in place encompassing thirteen hundred Los Angeles police offers, U.S. Secret Service agents, highway patrolmen, undercover agents, and National Guard members. Yet they expected only one or two thousand marchers, not the 10,000 who appeared.
As President Johnson dined and comedian Jack Benny presided over the festivities inside the hotel, the march halted at around 9 p.m. when around sixty demonstrators sat down in front of the building, apparently violating the police permit. Police issued a verbal order to disperse, which many claimed they couldn’t hear above the crowd noise. The officers then forcibly dispersed the crowd, using nightsticks and motorcycles to push protestors across the street (to what is now 2000 Avenue of the Stars). A clash ensued that left dozens bloodied and injured, with several people lying unconscious in the street. Between the melee and an earlier related incident, around fifty people were arrested. This historic event left a strong imprint on Los Angeles politics, protests, and the L.A. Police Department. The protest took place relatively early in the nation's involvement in the Vietnam War, and it was the largest confrontation with Los Angeles police since the Watts Riots two years earlier. The incident prompted widespread complaints about excessive use of force by the LAPD -- this time leveled by the white middle class, as opposed to African Americans and Latinos with prior experience. Controversy arose over who was to blame, and there was backlash even in the newsroom, as Los Angeles Times staffers apparently balked at biased coverage of the event and demanded a rewrite.
It also heralded a new age in the U.S. anti-war movement as protests across the nation became larger, bolder, and more confrontational. With its frequent use by national and world leaders, the Century Plaza Hotel became a prime location for political action--forming yet another layer in its rich history and meaning to the people of Los Angeles.
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