Alexandria Hotel captures history while embracing adaptability

Downtown Los Angeles, CA— Craig Owens, author, photographer and paranormal researcher, hosted a guided tour through some of the reserved and allegedly haunted rooms of Hotel Alexandria, on July 3 and July 10.

On August 7, Owens will be hosting another tour from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tickets for the tour can be found on tickettailor.com. Each tour has its unique quirks where Owens recalls different parts of the Alexandria Hotel’s history, incentivizing guests to return to hear new stories.

Owens’ vast knowledge of silent film history, time travels guests back into a period where John Barrymore and Charlie Chaplin would get a drink in the lobby of the Alexandria and be bombarded by bell hops pitching a script in hopes of becoming a star in Hollywood.

The tour started on 501 South Spring St., where you can find Angelenos on their way to work, vendors selling crystals and dried sage on the sidewalk and tenants of Hotel Alexandria having a smoke break.

Above the large ‘Hotel Alexandria’ sign on the side of the building, Owen said the top floor corner room was the presidential suite where many major celebrities of the time spent nights there. William Taft, Woodrow Wilson and D.W. Griffith are just a few of the names that relaxed in the suite where an alleged woman spirit is seen walking around.

On Spring Street, through a tall sliding glass door, Owens brought guests into a bar and restaurant-seating style space, where other businesses such as Irish pubs and shoe stores came and went through the past few decades. But a part of the original Alexandria Hotel stuck around, as a few pieces of the intricate and detailed ceiling remain on the first floor.

Along the walls are pictures of infamous silent film actors and actresses, intertwined with a few works of Owens’. The boudoir style in his photography encapsulated the time period of the early 1900’s; head pieces, pearls and lingerie, along with typewriters, animal skin rugs and art-deco designs

Into the main lobby under an old-school ‘Cocktail’ sign, Owens explained the signs that read “Women’s Entrance”. With the hotel opening in 1906, the political state of the world at the time reflected onto society.

Owens said that in 1910, Taft visited Los Angeles and was booked for a banquet at the Alexandria Hotel. With the media, locals and a band playing “Hail to the Chief”, ready at the main entrance for Taft to arrive, Taft waltzes through the women’s entrance creating an anti-climatic scene for what was supposed to be a spectacle.

Next to the lobby is a large banquet room called ‘The Palm Court’. With a beautiful stained glass ceiling resembling the Baroque time period with its grandeur ornamentation, Taft had his banquet there in 1910.

Owens took the guests up a few levels to more ballrooms with fireplaces and large chandeliers. These ballrooms proved that the history of the Alexandria Hotel was not bound to hospitality and evolved to utilize its space differently.

In the late 1990’s, the ballroom was used as an underground venue for live house music. Power 106, a Los Angeles based radio station aired a live mix show featuring electronic music, from various venues with one being the Alexandria Hotel.

Holly Lindblom, Los Angeles native and paranormal photographer reminisced on her 15 year old self walking through the hallways of the Alexandria Hotel to get to the dance floor and listen to Richard “Humpty” Vission, host the show.

“The walls and ceilings were coming apart since it was abandoned at the time,” Lindblom said “The bass would be bumping and pieces of the building would crumble off.”

Lindblom said she was maybe too young to be there but it was an unforgettable part of her childhood as a lover of house music. She said the party crews of the time were getting violent and gang-like and said she saw a man get shot in the head at a parking lot next to the Hotel. 

Power 106's Power Tools only lasted a few years sadly. 

Photo from @Ravetalk_ on Instagram

Like many other historic hotels in Downtown Los Angeles today, the Alexandria stands as an affordable and supported housing complex. If someone is experiencing homelessness they have the opportunity to apply and live at the Alexandria Hotel under Section 8.  

Push back from local communities seems to be a common trend when building affordable housing. However, operations like the Alexandria Hotel allows for history preservation along with resource utilization.

For more detailed descriptions of the Alexandria Hotel’s haunted history by Owens himself and a deep dive into the supposedly and extremely haunted Rudolph Valentino Suite, take a tour with tickets priced at $30. Owens is a wonderful storyteller, capturing all the small situations that occurred at the hotel. Every tour is different, as guests hear thrilling and humorous stories of the Alexandria

Follow Holly on Instagram, @hollyshaunts, and check out her show, Holly’s Haunts, on Youtube.

Follow Craig on Instagram, @bizzare_los_angeles.

Sarah Van Buskirk can be reached at bysarahvanbuskirk@gmail.com.