Cecil Hotel

Cecil Hotel The Cecil Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles (640 S. Main Street) was a budget hotel with 600 guest rooms & was originally 700. 'Stay on Main' is closed.

Cecil is in limbo and not open for hotel guests. Cecil Hotel is now closed as the Cecil Hotel and was recently renamed Stay on Main. Often said to be one of the most haunted locations in the world. This page is dedicated to the historical aspect of Cecil Hotel and all the elegant glory of her past from 1924 - 2011. If you are looking for a stay at Cecil, you will have to book a room through Stay o

n Main and hope you get to sleep in the original section of the Cecil. Historical Overview
The Cecil was constructed in 1924 by hotelier, William Banks Hanner, as a destination for business travelers and tourists. Built in the Art Deco style to the designs of Loy Lester Smith, the hotel cost $1,000,000 to complete and boasted an opulent marble lobby with stained glass windows, potted palms, and alabaster statuary. Hanner had invested confidently in the enterprise, in the knowledge that several similar hotels had been established elsewhere downtown, but he had been unable to predict that within five years of its opening, the United States would sink into the Great Depression. The road on which the hotel stood - Main Street - quickly declined into the area known as Skid Row, with as many as 10,000 homeless people living within a four-mile radius and by the 1950s it had gained a reputation as a residence for transients. A portion of the hotel was refurbished in 2007 after new owners took over. In 2011, the Cecil Hotel was named "Stay on Main" with a modern website, stayonmain.com. The old website thececilhotel.com continued online until the end of 2013. The hotel was sold to NYC hotelier Richard Born for $30 million in in 2014, and another New-York based firm, Simon Baron Development, acquired a 99 year ground lease on the property. Matt Baron, president of Simon Baron, announced that whilst committed to the preservation of architecturally or historically significant components such as the grand lobby, his company planned to completely redevelop the interior and make good the "hodgepodge" work carried out there in more recent years

In November 2016, it was reported that the Cecil Hotel could receive special recognition from the city of Los Angeles after the Cultural Heritage Commission voted unanimously to consider the downtown structure as a historic-cultural monument. Its owner, Simon Baron Development, confirmed the building’s Beaux Arts exterior in its designation application. The guest parking is on the street or guests could choose an independent parking lot in the area. Timeline of suicides, murder or unexplained deaths associated with the Cecil and the Ghosts who may haunt the hotel:

* On 19 November 1931, the Los Angeles Times reported that a search for 46 year-old Manhattan Beach resident W.K Norton was over. He had checked into the Cecil as "James Willys of Chicago" a week earlier and, once in his room, had taken a number of poison capsules. This appears to be the earliest known suicide at the hotel.

* Less than a year later, the LA Times reported another suicide at the hotel: Benjamin Dodich, 25, had shot himself in the head in his room and his body was found the next morning by a maid named Carrie Brown, though there was no suicide note.

* In late July 1934, a 53 year-old former Army Medical Corps sergeant named Louis D. Borden slashed his throat with a razor in his room. Mr Borden left a note mentioning his ill health.

* In March 1937, it was reported that Grace E. Magro had fallen from a ninth story window. Police were unsure as to whether this had been an accident or suicide, and her fall had been broken by suspended telephone wiring which was "entangled about her body". Ms Magro died later in hospital.

* In January 1938, Roy Thompson, a 35 year-old marine fireman took "a suicide leap" from the hotel's top floor. He had been registered here for several weeks and his body was found on the skylight of a building next door.

* In May 1939, another sailor, Erwin C. Neblett, 39, of the USS Wright died in his room after taking poison, and in January of the following year it was reported that teacher, Dorothy Sceiger, 45, had employed the same method and was said to be "near death".

* In September 1944, an horrific tragedy occurred at the Cecil when Dorothy Jean Purcell, 19, threw her newborn son from a window. Apparently unaware she was pregnant, Purcell hadn't wanted to wake her sleeping partner, shoe salesman, Ben Levine, 38, when she woke with stomach pains, so she went to the nearby rest room and delivered the baby herself. Believing the child to be dead, she threw it from a window and the tiny body was later found on the roof of an adjacent building. After hearing testimony, a juror declared her account to be "almost beyond belief", and it was determined she be charged with homicide. However, matters were finally concluded in January of the following year, when Purcell was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

* In November 1947, it was reported that 35 year-old Robert Smith of Long Beach had met his death after falling from the Cecil's seventh floor.


* On October 22, 1954, Helen Gurnee, stepped from her window, also on the seventh floor, and landed on top of the hotel’s marquee. She had registered as Margaret Brown a week before.

* On February 11, 1962, Julia Frances Moore, 50, climbed out of her eighth floor room window and landed in a second story interior light well. She left no note, just a bus ticket from St. Louis, 59 cents in change, and an Illinois bank book showing a balance of $1800.


* On October 12, 1962, Pauline Otton, 27, had been arguing with her estranged husband Dewey in a room on the ninth floor when he decided he’d had enough and went out to get some dinner. In his absence, she decided she too had had enough and jumped from the window, landing on top of a pedestrian, George Gianinni, 65. Both were killed instantly. Since no one saw Pauline jump, police initially thought that there had been a double suicide, but on closer examination, it was found that George had his hands in his pockets and was still wearing shoes, which would have been unlikely if he’d fallen ninety feet.


* On June 4, 1964, “Pigeon Goldie” Osgood, a retired telephone operator was found dead in her ransacked room by a hotel worker distributing phone books. Ms Osgood, who had earned her nickname due to the fact that she befriended and fed the birds in nearby Pershing Square, had been stabbed, strangled and raped and near her body were found the Dodgers cap she always wore and a paper sack full of birdseed. Soon after, Jacques B. Ehlinger, 29, was seen walking through Pershing Square in bloodstained clothing. He was arrested, but cleared of the crime, for which no one was ever arrested.

Address

640 S Main Street
Los Angeles, CA
90014

Telephone

(213) 624-4545

Website

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Cecil Hotel in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles (near Skid Row)

Cecil Hotel is now closed as the Cecil Hotel and was recently renamed Stay on Main. Often said to be one of the most haunted locations in the world. The Cecil Hotel is known as the "murder hotel" since it housed so many murders and had so many deaths inside the location This page is dedicated to the historical aspect of Cecil Hotel and all the elegant glory of her past from 1924 - 2011. If you are looking for a stay at Cecil, you will have to book a room through Stay on Main and hope you get to sleep in the original section of the Cecil. Historical Overview The Cecil was constructed in 1924 by hotelier, William Banks Hanner, as a destination for business travelers and tourists. Built in the Art Deco style to the designs of Loy Lester Smith, the hotel cost $1,000,000 to complete and boasted an opulent marble lobby with stained glass windows, potted palms, and alabaster statuary. Hanner had invested confidently in the enterprise, in the knowledge that several similar hotels had been established elsewhere downtown, but he had been unable to predict that within five years of its opening, the United States would sink into the Great Depression. The road on which the hotel stood - Main Street - quickly declined into the area known as Skid Row, with as many as 10,000 homeless people living within a four-mile radius and by the 1950s it had gained a reputation as a residence for transients. A portion of the hotel was refurbished in 2007 after new owners took over. In 2011, the Cecil Hotel was named "Stay on Main" with a modern website, stayonmain.com. The old website thececilhotel.com continued online until the end of 2013. The hotel was sold to NYC hotelier Richard Born for $30 million in in 2014, and another New-York based firm, Simon Baron Development, acquired a 99 year ground lease on the property. Matt Baron, president of Simon Baron, announced that whilst committed to the preservation of architecturally or historically significant components such as the grand lobby, his company planned to completely redevelop the interior and make good the "hodgepodge" work carried out there in more recent years In November 2016, it was reported that the Cecil Hotel could receive special recognition from the city of Los Angeles after the Cultural Heritage Commission voted unanimously to consider the downtown structure as a historic-cultural monument. Its owner, Simon Baron Development, confirmed the building’s Beaux Arts exterior in its designation application. The guest parking is on the street or guests could choose an independent parking lot in the area. Timeline of su***des, murder or unexplained deaths associated with the Cecil and the Ghosts who may haunt the hotel: * On 19 November 1931, the Los Angeles Times reported that a search for 46 year-old Manhattan Beach resident W.K Norton was over. He had checked into the Cecil as "James Willys of Chicago" a week earlier and, once in his room, had taken a number of poison capsules. This appears to be the earliest known su***de at the hotel. * Less than a year later, the LA Times reported another su***de at the hotel: Benjamin Dodich, 25, had shot himself in the head in his room and his body was found the next morning by a maid named Carrie Brown, though there was no su***de note. * In late July 1934, a 53 year-old former Army Medical Corps sergeant named Louis D. Borden slashed his throat with a razor in his room. Mr Borden left a note mentioning his ill health. * In March 1937, it was reported that Grace E. Magro had fallen from a ninth story window. Police were unsure as to whether this had been an accident or su***de, and her fall had been broken by suspended telephone wiring which was "entangled about her body". Ms Magro died later in hospital. * In January 1938, Roy Thompson, a 35 year-old marine fireman took "a su***de leap" from the hotel's top floor. He had been registered here for several weeks and his body was found on the skylight of a building next door. * In May 1939, another sailor, Erwin C. Neblett, 39, of the USS Wright died in his room after taking poison, and in January of the following year it was reported that teacher, Dorothy Sceiger, 45, had employed the same method and was said to be "near death". * In September 1944, an horrific tragedy occurred at the Cecil when Dorothy Jean Purcell, 19, threw her newborn son from a window. Apparently unaware she was pregnant, Purcell hadn't wanted to wake her sleeping partner, shoe salesman, Ben Levine, 38, when she woke with stomach pains, so she went to the nearby rest room and delivered the baby herself. Believing the child to be dead, she threw it from a window and the tiny body was later found on the roof of an adjacent building. After hearing testimony, a juror declared her account to be "almost beyond belief", and it was determined she be charged with homicide. However, matters were finally concluded in January of the following year, when Purcell was found not guilty by reason of insanity. * In November 1947, it was reported that 35 year-old Robert Smith of Long Beach had met his death after falling from the Cecil's seventh floor. * On October 22, 1954, Helen Gurnee, stepped from her window, also on the seventh floor, and landed on top of the hotel’s marquee. She had registered as Margaret Brown a week before. * On February 11, 1962, Julia Frances Moore, 50, climbed out of her eighth floor room window and landed in a second story interior light well. She left no note, just a bus ticket from St. Louis, 59 cents in change, and an Illinois bank book showing a balance of $1800. * On October 12, 1962, Pauline Otton, 27, had been arguing with her estranged husband Dewey in a room on the ninth floor when he decided he’d had enough and went out to get some dinner. In his absence, she decided she too had had enough and jumped from the window, landing on top of a pedestrian, George Gianinni, 65. Both were killed instantly. Since no one saw Pauline jump, police initially thought that there had been a double su***de, but on closer examination, it was found that George had his hands in his pockets and was still wearing shoes, which would have been unlikely if he’d fallen ninety feet. * On June 4, 1964, “Pigeon Goldie” Osgood, a retired telephone operator was found dead in her ransacked room by a hotel worker distributing phone books. Ms Osgood, who had earned her nickname due to the fact that she befriended and fed the birds in nearby Pershing Square, had been stabbed, strangled and r***d and near her body were found the Dodgers cap she always wore and a paper sack full of birdseed. Soon after, Jacques B. Ehlinger, 29, was seen walking through Pershing Square in bloodstained clothing. He was arrested, but cleared of the crime, for which no one was ever arrested.