‘There Will Be No Salvage': An Obituary for the Ambassador, One of Dallas' Oldest and Most Special Places

For a long time on Tuesday morning, Jim Lake Jr. just stood there, in the middle of Belleview Street, staring at the horror. Staring, because he could not speak. And when he finally could, after he'd collected himself, after he choked back the emotion, he said this of the gut-wrenching devastation that lie only a few feet in front of him, smoldering in the early morning sunlight: "I am in shock. I am so ... disheartened," he said. "I am just so sorry for the city. I just ..."A pause. In front of us, fire trucks with ladders blasted water at the smoldering ruins of Lake's building, the Ambassador Hotel, which opened in 1904 as the Majestic Hotel — once billed as "The Most Elegantly Appointed Hotel in the South." At times Tuesday, the hotel seemed to disappear behind a shroud of smoke."I felt like I was entrusted to restore it," Lake began again. "We were getting there, in fits and starts. And then ... then this happens."  Continue reading...