Cecil Hotel (Los Angeles)
| Cecil Hotel | |
|---|---|
 Cecil Hotel, photographed in 2013 | |
  Location within the Los Angeles metropolitan area | |
| General information | |
| Address | 640 S. Main Street, Los Angeles, CA 90014 |
| Opening | 1927[1] |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 14 |
| Other information | |
| Number of rooms | 600 |
| Website | |
| http://stayonmain.com/ | |
The Cecil Hotel (now rebranded as Stay on Main) in Downtown Los Angeles (640 S. Main Street) is a budget hotel with 600 guest rooms (originally 700). Constructed in 1924, the hotel was intended for business travelers but in the 1950s it gained a reputation as a residence for transients. A portion of the hotel was refurbished in 2007 after new owners took over.
The Hotel is known for several suicides and its criminal activity which includes three murders.[2] Most notably, the hotel was the reported residence for serial killers Richard Ramirez in 1985 and Jack Unterweger in 1991.[2] It is rumored to be one of the last places Elizabeth Short was seen before her murder in 1947.[3]
In February 2013, the nude[4] body of Elisa Lam, a 21-year-old Canadian student, was found inside one of the water supply tanks on the hotel roof. Lam went missing January 31, and her decomposed body was discovered on February 20th by a maintenance worker in one of the rooftop water tanks, after guests had complained about low water pressure and water that "tasted funny".[5][6] Authorities later ruled Lam's death as an accidental drowning. Video surveillance footage taken from inside an elevator showed Lam acting strangely, pressing multiple elevator buttons, hiding in the corner of the elevator, and waving her arms wildly, causing widespread speculation about the cause of her death.[7] After the elevator video was made public, many started to believe in a more paranormal explanation, some even going to the extent to claim Lam was possessed. Lam was thought to have had bipolar disorder, which could have contributed to her death as well as her strange behavior in the elevator.[8]
In 2011, the Cecil Hotel was re-branded as "Stay on Main", and a new website, stayonmain.com, was created. The old website thececilhotel.com continued online, though, until the end of 2013.[9]
Paranormal activity is so commonly reported at the hotel that in 2015, the TV show American Horror Story: Hotel was loosely based on the hotel.[10]
References
- ^ "Body found in LA hotel water tank may be missing Canadian tourist". Yahoo! News. 20 February 2013. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
- ^ a b Duke, Alan (22 February 2013). "Hotel with corpse in water tank has notorious past". CNN. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
- ^ Hamilton, Denise (2007-12-10). "Serial Killer Central - Native Intelligence". Laobserved.com. Retrieved 2014-05-15.
- ^ "Body Found Inside Water Tank Atop Hotel Identified As Missing Canadian Tourist". CBS Los Angeles. February 19, 2013. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
- ^ "'We thought the water tasted funny': Los Angeles hotel guests drank and bathed in water from tank where dead Canadian tourist decomposed for two weeks". Daily Mail UK. February 20, 2013.
- ^ Melissa Pamer and Lolita Lopez (20 February 2013). "Body Found in Water Tank at Hotel is Missing Canadian Tourist: LAPD". NBC 4 Southern California.
- ^ William M. Welch (2013-06-21). "Elisa Lam's death ruled accidental". USA Today.
- ^ Nair, Drishya (June 21, 2013). "Elisa Lam Death: Canadian Tourist's death an accident, rules LA coroner's office". International Business Times.
- ^ Wallace-King, Donna (October 29, 2014). "True tales of terror to keep you up at night". KSLA News. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
- ^ http://la.curbed.com/archives/2015/10/cecil_hotel_american_horror_story.php
External links
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