What if the only life a young girl ever knew was growing up in a famous hotel? And what if that young girl was your mother, and her magical life went from extraordinary to ordinary overnight? This is just part of Carlyn Frank Benjamin’s story, growing up at the legendary Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles from 1921 to 1938-the year everything changed.
Join Carlyn on a marvelous journey through every corner of the hotel where she and her family lived during the glamour and growth of Los Angeles and Hollywood’s golden years. She shares stories that only someone with a front row seat to it all could tell. No other account of the Ambassador has been offered with such historical perspective and personal insight.
Carlyn’s daughter and co-author, Lisa, completed Life Without Reservations after losing her mother. She reflects on the remarkable life Carlyn created after leaving the hotel and includes a personal introduction, confiding that she never paid much attention to her mother’s stories-until it was too late. Each chapter closes with a Dear Mom letter, where Lisa reminisces on all that was never asked and shares the heartache of an opportunity long gone.
Both authors in this mother-daughter memoir write with poignancy and humor, painting a picture of a life shaped first by privilege, then by loss, rebuilt with grace, and eventually lived with determined purpose. If you’re lucky enough to have the chance to ask the questions you always meant to, Life Without Reservations will inspire you to do so before it is too late.
Author: Carlyn Frank Benjamin,Lisa Benjamin Gilmour
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Christmas Lake Press
Published: 05/10/2026
Pages: 320
Weight: 1.33lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.87d
ISBN: 9781960865410
Language: English
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