Music photographer Henry Diltz first laid eyes on the Morrison Hotel lobby 55 years ago.
He and his business partner Gary Burden drove to the hotel on Hope Street with Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek and lead singer Jim Morrison in their VW band van in December 1969. The Doors approached Diltz and Burden to put together a cover for an unnamed album.
An improvised photo shoot of the legendary band inside the lobby would eventually become the cover to one of the Doors’ biggest-selling albums.
Printed photographs during a photo shoot by Henry Diltz with The Doors at the Morrison Hotel. (Courtesey of Henry Diltz)
The visit to the four-story building marked the inception of the aging downtown building into rock ‘n’ roll history.
Over the following five decades, the hotel has been the subject of lawsuits, tenant complaints and unfulfilled plans for multimillion-dollar renovations, culminating last month with a major fire on the day after Christmas that ripped through the 111-year-old building. Although preservationists are pressing the city to save the brick building with the rock ‘n’ roll vibe, the future remains uncertain and the end seems near.
“The whole world suddenly is interested in preservation when it’s something they feel emotionally attached to,” said preservationist Kim Cooper. “They don’t feel emotionally attached to 111 affordable units in a neighborhood they’ve never been to that’s been boarded up for 20 years, but they know the Morrison Hotel. It’s got this kind of ruby dust of celebrity cachet.”
For the Doors album cover, Manzarek suggested shooting at the Morrison Hotel, and when he, Morrison, Diltz and Burden arrived on Hope Street, they noticed the iconic window with its bold lettering. But Diltz was not immediately impressed by the hotel lobby.
“It was really kind of a transient flop house,” Diltz told The Times.
The modest lobby offered little in terms of character and when the full band arrived a week later the clerk behind the counter told Diltz they could not take any photos inside. The band milled about the lobby and Diltz planned to photograph them outside on the sidewalk.
But then they got lucky. Diltz saw a bright light come on from inside the lobby, which signaled the hotel clerk had taken the elevator to another floor.
“The guy left the desk, so run in there you guys — quick,” Diltz told the Doors. “They just hit their marks. It was perfect.”
Diltz first fired away on his Nikon camera with a wide lens. Burden told him to back up and get the whole window and eventually Diltz positioned himself across the street with a mid-telephoto lens that gave him the shot that was emblazoned on the band’s album cover.
He shot a whole roll of film in about five minutes and the photo shoot was done before the hotel clerk ever knew what happened. The band came out to the sidewalk and it was late afternoon by then.
“I think Jim says, ‘Let’s go get a beer,’” Diltz said.
A reissue of the Doors’ “L.A. Woman,” and a memoir from guitarist Robby Krieger, find the band navigating Jim Morrison’s addictions during its final sessions.
They piled into the band van and drove to 5th Street, where they got a drink at the Hard Rock Cafe. Diltz took a photo of the bar’s entrance, which became the image on the back of the “Morrison Hotel” album. The album — the band’s fifth studio album — sold more than 1 million copies in the U.S.
A few years later, Diltz drove by the Morrison Hotel but the iconic window was replaced by a new business. While the ground floor played host to numerous retail storefronts, the top three floors were used as hotel rooms and years later as affordable housing.
In the years since, conditions have not improved substantially at the Morrison.
In 2005, long-term tenants living in the building complained that they had no heat or working plumbing, according to court records. The city attorney’s office filed a criminal complaint against the hotel owners, Hope Pico Co. and four individuals, charging them with misdemeanor violations of several city codes, citing inoperable fire exits; broken doors, windows, floors and walls; and vermin infestations.
A year later, the tenants reached a relocation settlement agreement and the building was vacated. It remained empty since then.
In 2017, hotel developer Relevant Group announced it would redevelop the site as part of a luxury hotel project. Three years later, Rhino Records recreated the iconic Morrison Hotel window.
But in December 2023, Relevant Group sold the property for $12.4 million to the nonprofit AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which had plans to convert the building into 111 affordable housing units.
A spokesperson for the nonprofit said they are waiting for a report from a structural engineer to “inform our next steps in determining what extent, if any, the Morrison Hotel may be salvageable.”
Numerous complaints filed with the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety have cited unpermitted construction; an abandoned building left open to the public and other issues.
Local merchants say that unhoused people have often slept inside the building. The Los Angeles Fire Department has received at least six calls for service to the building since December 2023, including for a rubbish fire, smoke and follow-up investigations.
On Dec. 23, 2024, three days before the fire, the city placed red tag notices around the building, warning about a building or wall that could fall down. The Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
On the day of the fire, Michael-Nolhan Morales, who lives in an adjacent apartment building, said his St. Bernard named Sully knew something was amiss even before the first flames were visible. The dog clambered to a community deck, overlooking the Morrison, attentively watching the building.
“He’s just the type of dog who notices those types of things before anyone else,” Morales said.
More than 90 minutes after the fire started, firefighters put out the flames. While the building remains standing, the wooden interior was severely damaged and the cause remains under investigation. Arson investigators and the Los Angeles Police Department’s major crimes detectives are working on the case.
While the building survived and there were no injuries, it remains uncertain if the Morrison Hotel will come back to life as an affordable housing project.
Preservationists want the city to work with the building owner to save the existing structure, and give it the type of attention that led to the city designating Marilyn Monroe’s Brentwood home a historic cultural monument. The office of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass could not immediately be reached for comment on the future of the building.
Cooper and her partner, fellow preservationist Richard Schave, give historic tours of Los Angeles and have created an online petition to keep the public’s attention on the Morrison Hotel, in hopes that city officials will be pressured to reuse the building for affordable housing.
“This building, the Morrison, shows the world is watching,” Schave said.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
