The Cecil Hotel

Place of Interest in Los Angeles, California

This is the notorious Cecil Hotel.

It is located at 640 Main Street in the Skid Row neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.

In the past, it was a hotel and rooming house. These days, it is an affordable housing complex.

This location has been the scene of a number of suicides, murders, and accidental deaths since the 1930s.

A Google Street View image of the main entrance. The hotel was opened in December 1924. In 2011, it was renamed the Stay On Main.

In February 2013, the body of a missing 21-year-old Canadian tourist named Elisa Lam was discovered in a water cistern at the top of the building. Surveillance footage from one of the elevators revealed that Lam had been acting erratically on the day of her disappearance.

Although the coroner's office could not conclusively determine the manner of Lam's death, it was ruled that she had died from accidental drowning. The authorities believe that bipolar disorder may have been a contributing factor, as she had previously experienced psychotic episodes when she stopped taking her medication.

Lam's mysterious death later became the subject of the documentary series "Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel", which premiered on Netflix in February 2021.

Elisa Lam Video — A security camera in one of the elevators captured video footage of Lam acting erratically.

During the 1980s, the Cecil Hotel became the temporary home of serial killer Richard Ramirez. Nicknamed the Night Stalker, Ramirez murdered at least 14 people in a series of home invasions between April 1984 and August 1985.

Ramirez reportedly stayed on the 14th floor of the hotel for a number of weeks.

Goldie Rogers Osgood — In June 1964, a 79-year-old retired telephone operator called "Pigeon Goldie" Rogers Osgood was found murdered in her hotel room. The case remains unsolved.

In December 2021, the building was converted into an affordable housing complex for the unhoused. It was originally operated by the Skid Row Housing Trust. However, the nonprofit collapsed in February 2023 after it fell into financial difficulties.

A real estate development and investment firm called Baron Property Group currently owns the former hotel. In March 2024, the LA Times reported that the building had been put up for sale.