Can you stay at the Cecil Hotel? (And would you if you could?)

Thanks to some of 2021’s new documentaries, like Ghost Adventures: Cecil Hotel and Netflix’s Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, there’s been a lot of interest in L.A.’s Cecil Hotel. Namely, a lot of people want to know if you can still stay there.

Not anymore.

However, maybe you’ll get to again, judging from info the former hotel manager shared in the Netflix doc about the creepy hotel.

And creepy it is! I was late to learn about the haunted hotel with a dark past. (Hope my Paranormal Club card won’t get revoked!) I saw the YouTube of Elisa Lam go around in 2013, but the hotel’s history —or creepiness factor!— didn’t register with me then. The hotel didn’t really hit my radar until 2019. That’s when a guest contributor wrote about all the deaths and murders that have happened there.

Of course, when I heard it was a glamourous old hotel that might be haunted, I was all, “Now that’s a spooky stay I’d like to stay in!”

Then I checked it out more and was like, “Um, maybe not.”

Besides the lobby, it didn’t seem all that grand based on reviews I read about it. Also, there was the issue that by this time it had already been closed for two years. (It closed in 2017.)

Let’s take a look at what the hotel’s fate might be and when you might be able to check in again —if you’re both brave enough and you dare!

A Brief History of the Cecil Hotel

The Cecil Hotel opened in 1924. It was designed in the Beaux-Arts style and was intended to be a hotel for travelers and business people. Then the Great Depression happened and the area surrounding the hotel became known as Skid Row and a place many homeless people ended up living.

The Cecil quickly became known as “The Suicide” and “Hotel Death” for the large number of people who found themselves facing hard times and decided to take their lives there —or, in some cases, decided to take the lives of others there.

In 2007 new owners took over and renovated part of the hotel. Then, in 2011, a rebranding initiative transformed part of the hotel into Stay on Main aimed at budget travelers. They didn’t check into the main lobby area, though. They had a separate reception area.

Richard Born acquired the hotel in 2014, but Simon Baron Development took out a 99-year ground lease on the property. In 2017 the hotel closed for renovations, but also in 2017 the Los Angeles City Council approved the hotel as a Historic-Cultural Monument.

Will the Cecil reopen?

It appears that’s the plan. According to Men’s Health, the building will be turned into a mixed-use development with 264 low-rent units and 299 hotel rooms.

It seems they want to preserve some features, like the lobby, for instance.  But they plan to update the rooms and add amenities like a lounge, gym, and a rooftop pool. I’m not sure how I feel about that. Given the hotel’s history, I’m not sure it’s wise to grant people ready access to the roof. Because not only was that where Elisa Lam’s body was found, but so many suicides involved jumping.

There’s no word on when it will reopen, though. Wikipedia lists that it could happen as early as this year. However, if you watched the Ghost Adventures episode, it looks like there’s still a lot of work left to do. Also, unless they avoided places where work was being done, I didn’t see many renovations happening.

But I’m sure when it does reopen, there will be a big hoopla. I’ll be sure to write about it when it happens.

And as much as I’d love to snag an invite to the grand opening, which I’d totally go to, I’m not sure I’d stay there.

Oh, who am I kidding? That’s an opportunity I wouldn’t pass up! (Especially if it was on someone else’s dime!)

Check-In

So, tell me, would you stay at the Cecil if it reopens as a hotel?