Peter Clenott

THE KNICKERBOCKER HOTEL Built between 1923 and 1925, the famous Hollywood Hotel Knickerbocker was in its early days, a mainstay in the life of Hollywood’s most glorious celebrities. But, looking at this aging hotel on Ivar Avenue, you probably wouldn’t guess that it had much of a Hollywood history. Similarly, looking at Earl Watson, an unassuming man, residing in Fresno, California, you probably wouldn’t guess that he too, was a part of Hollywood’s golden history. But, you’d be dead wrong. Hollywood’s elite came to the Knickerbocker and was greeted by the ever-smiling Earl Watson. From 1946 to 1962, Watson worked as a doorman at the famed hotel. Where most people only dream of seeing such celebrities as Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio, Earl Watson rubbed elbows with them. Today, the Hotel Knickerbocker is an apartment house for senior citizens, but back in the 1920s, it was in the heart of Hollywood and played a key role in Tinsel town’s history. The Hotel was closed and the rooms converted to apartments in 1971. In 1991, the hotel bar was re-opened as the “All Star Theatre Cafe And Speakeasy,” a coffee house nestled in the plush atmosphere of a glamorous past. And although the entrance to the hotel is closed to the public, you can still look through the glassed doors and imagine the splendor and magic that was the Knickerbocker. Just as the All Star Theatre Café and Speakeasy allows the spectator to revisit Hollywood’s elegant past, Earl Watson, doorman to the stars, can bring the past to life with his tales of hobnobbing with the Hollywood elite. His home in Fresno California is a museum filled with memorabilia of those days in Hollywood. But there is much more to Earl Watson, the man, who grew up in Chicago’s South Side during the depression years. As a young man, he served proudly with the Armed Forces in Europe and fought in the fiercest battles of the war, first at Normandy and then in the Battle of the Bulge and the Battle of the Rhine River. There is more to this modest gentleman from Chicago than a story about the past vestiges of the Knickerbocker and the famous people who lived there. It is the story of lives interwoven in the tapestry of Hollywood’s grandeur as seen and experienced by the always-smiling Earl of the Knickerbocker Hotel. Just ask E Entertainment, the worldwide syndicated television show out of Hollywood. They wanted to do a piece about Hollywood and the old Knickerbocker Hotel. They went to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and were referred to Johnny Grant, who had been the mayor of Hollywood for many years. When they contacted Johnny Grant, he told them that they should call “Earl Watson” because he was there in that era. They contacted Earl and set up an interview in his home in Fresno, California. They spent a couple of hours with Earl and collected 55 years of history. Writers who did not know the hotel or the employees have written many untrue stories about the Hotel over the years.... but Earl Watson lived it.