Photos: L.A.’s first hotel billing itself as pot-friendly

Dennis Peron, one of the primary figures in California’s medical marijuana movement, has moved from San Francisco and is renovating the Hotel Normandie in Koreatown.  (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

Assistant manager Richard Eastman chats with Dennis Peron in the ballroom of the Hotel Normandie.  (Bob Chamberlin/Los Angeles Times)

Dennis Redghost paints a room in the Hotel Normandie.  (Bob Chamberlin/Los Angeles Times)

Resident Felipe Menene goes through the lobby of the Hotel Normandie.  (Bob Chamberlin/Los Angeles Times)

Resident Silvia Rodriguez walks past the old wallpaper in the ballroom.  (Bob Chamberlin/Los Angeles Times)

Chef Christopher Rodriguez prepares lunch in the renovated kitchen.  (Bob Chamberlin/Los Angeles Times)

Caroline Lewis watches television in her room at the historic Hotel Normandie.  (Bob Chamberlin/Los Angeles Times)

Manager Dennis Peron climbs the historic hotel sign.  (Bob Chamberlin/Los Angeles Times)

An original “N” doorknob at the Hotel Normandie.  (Bob Chamberlin/Los Angeles Times)

Assistant manager Richard Eastman walks past a model of a shark in the hotel lobby.  (Bob Chamberlin/Los Angeles Times)

People wait for the bus outside the hotel.  (Bob Chamberlin/Los Angeles Times)