The motel where Sam Cooke was killed

Death Location Los Angeles, California

This is the location where Sam Cooke was shot dead.

It is situated at 9137 South Figueroa Street in Los Angeles, California.

At the time of the shooting, the lot was home to the Motel Hacienda. These days, it is a parking lot for an adjoining grocery store called Numero Uno Market.

Hacienda Motel — This Google Street View image was captured in July 2023.

Cooke was killed at this location during the early hours of December 11th, 1964.

The 33-year-old soul singer was shot in the chest by the motel manager, Bertha Franklin, after he allegedly forced his way into her office and became violent.

9137 South Figueroa Street — Franklin (pictured right) claimed that she opened fire on the singer after he forced his way into her office and became physically aggressive.

Franklin claimed that Cooke was half-naked and aggressively demanding to know the whereabouts of another woman. It is believed that Cooke was talking about a woman named Elisa Boyer, who had accompanied him to the motel earlier that night.

Following a physical confrontation with the singer, Franklin grabbed a pistol and opened fire.

One of the bullets struck him in the chest and pierced his heart.

Cooke was reportedly shocked and confused when he realized that he had been shot.

Although he allegedly tried to charge at Franklin, he collapsed to the floor and died after she hit him on top of the head with a broom.

This aerial image was taken in 1964. We have highlighted the motel in red.

Following an investigation, the shooting was ultimately ruled to be a justifiable homicide. Despite this, there are still a number of questions hanging over the case.

On the night of the shooting, Cooke met Boyer (22) at Martoni's Restaurant in Hollywood. That evening, several witnesses saw the pair drinking and "getting close" to one another. Cooke was also flaunting a substantial amount of cash.

Boyer said that she asked the singer to drive her home that night. However, he ignored her request and stopped at the Hacienda Motel instead.

Once they were inside Cooke's motel room, he allegedly forced her onto the bed and took off her clothes.

Fearing she was about to be raped, she gathered her things and fled the room while he went to the restroom.

Elisa Boyer — Cooke met Boyer at Martoni's Restaurant.

Before making her escape, Boyer also grabbed some of Cooke's clothes. However, she claimed that she did this by mistake in the heat of the moment.

That night, the singer was reportedly carrying $5,000 in cash, a sum that is equivalent to roughly $45,000 today. Following the shooting, the police were unable to find any trace of the money.

This has led to speculation that Boyer concocted the rape story and that she grabbed Cooke's clothes because she wanted to steal the money.

Upon realizing that his clothes and money were missing, the drunken singer may have panicked and lost his cool. This may explain the bizarre events leading up to the shooting.

Although this theory is plausible, there is no hard evidence to support it.

The police said that Boyer's purse only contained a small amount of money. This means that she would have had to stash the $5,000 somewhere else before the authorities arrived.

Address

The address and GPS coordinates for the motel are as follows:

Address

9137 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, California, CA 90044, USA

GPS Coordinates

33.953296, -118.282860

33°57'11.87"N 118°16'58.30"W

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Area Information

It is situated in the Vermont Vista neighborhood of South Los Angeles.

📍 The lot is about 50 yards north of the intersection between South Figueroa Street and West 92nd Street. It lies to the west of Interstate 110 (Harbor Freeway).