Gentle reader, The Morrison Hotel was made famous when the Doors dropped by for an album photo shoot, but for Angelenos, it was a modest, respectable home. In the 1990s, new owners turned it into a hell hole, then kicked everyone out. The city let them do it. After almost 20 years boarded up, all 111 rent controlled units are coming back.
Dec 23, 2023Liked by Esotouric's Secret Los Angeles
Very fascinating The Doors were a very famous LA band. Jim Morrison was a wild one. He died young and was buried in Paris. His graveside is a shrine. Will you do an event here. Love mom and Pail
Absolutely! And it's neat to use famous (or notorious, like the Hotel Cecil) landmarks to help inform a wider audience about the real history of the city, and why historic buildings like these are still so useful.
It was the hotel's historic name that inspired the band to come down and take a photo there, which is a happy connection and a rare example of a mid-century color photo documenting SRO hotel signage in Downtown Los Angeles. When researching the hotel's history for her landmark nomination--which the city refused, but we hope will take up with it now owned by preservationists--Emma Rault was unable to discover why original owner Victor Ponet picked that name.
Very fascinating The Doors were a very famous LA band. Jim Morrison was a wild one. He died young and was buried in Paris. His graveside is a shrine. Will you do an event here. Love mom and Pail
No events planned in Paris, but we hope to bring people into the Morrison Hotel as it is restored.
Still, the Doors are the biggest reason why people outside of LA know the place exists....
Absolutely! And it's neat to use famous (or notorious, like the Hotel Cecil) landmarks to help inform a wider audience about the real history of the city, and why historic buildings like these are still so useful.
It was probably a coincidence that Jim's surname and the name of the hotel was the same, but they got a title for one of their albums from it.
It was the hotel's historic name that inspired the band to come down and take a photo there, which is a happy connection and a rare example of a mid-century color photo documenting SRO hotel signage in Downtown Los Angeles. When researching the hotel's history for her landmark nomination--which the city refused, but we hope will take up with it now owned by preservationists--Emma Rault was unable to discover why original owner Victor Ponet picked that name.