Hollywood is famous for its stars, but some of them never checked out. Behind the glitz of Sunset Boulevard and the Walk of Fame, a handful of historic properties carry reputations that go well beyond luxury accommodations. These haunted hotels in Hollywood have collected decades of guest reports, unexplained encounters, and stories tied to some of the city’s most legendary figures from the golden age of cinema.
Whether you’re genuinely curious about the paranormal or just love a good ghost story, these hotels offer something most LA attractions don’t: a chance to sleep where history happened, and where some say it’s still happening. From phantom piano music to cold spots in hallways that shouldn’t be cold, the accounts are hard to brush off entirely.
At Another Side Tours, we guide visitors through the side of Los Angeles most people miss, including its darker, stranger history. Our Haunted Hollywood tours take you past several of these locations in person. But first, here are five haunted hotels you should know about before your next trip.
1. The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel opened in 1927 at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard, directly on the Walk of Fame. It hosted the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929 and has spent nearly a century collecting stories that go far beyond standard celebrity gossip.
Where it is and what makes it iconic
Located at the center of the Hollywood action, steps from the TCL Chinese Theatre, the Roosevelt draws visitors for its Spanish Colonial Revival design and its Blossom Ballroom, one of the most photographed interiors in Los Angeles. Guests have included Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, and Montgomery Clift, which matters a great deal once you start tracing the ghost stories.
The ghost stories people report most often
Marilyn Monroe’s reflection is the most frequently reported phenomenon. A mirror that once hung near her poolside bungalow was moved inside the hotel after enough guests and staff reported seeing her image in it. Montgomery Clift is said to haunt Room 928, where he lived for three months while filming "From Here to Eternity." People staying in that room report feeling a presence, hearing a bugle, and waking to a cold hand on their shoulder.
The mirror linked to Monroe now stands inside the hotel lobby area, and employees have documented reports of her reflection spanning multiple decades.
The real history behind the hauntings
The hotel’s guest registry reads like a who’s who of Hollywood’s golden age, including several figures who died young or under complicated circumstances. Nearly 100 years of continuous operation means the Roosevelt has absorbed a significant share of the city’s most intense human drama, which ghost researchers consistently flag as a key factor in persistent hauntings.
Paranormal hotspots to look for on-site
The following areas produce the most frequent reports:
- Room 928 on the ninth floor
- The Blossom Ballroom and its mezzanine level
- The pool area and surrounding bungalows
- The old elevator bank near the main lobby
Tips for visiting or booking a stay
Request Room 928 directly when you call or book online, since the hotel does not always surface it as an available option. If you’re not staying overnight, the lobby bar is open to the public and gives you access to the main floor, the mirror, and the ballroom without paying for a room.
2. Chateau Marmont
Chateau Marmont sits at 8221 Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, just off the Strip. It opened in 1929 as an apartment building and converted to a hotel in 1931. Today it operates as one of the most privately managed and closely guarded hotels in Los Angeles.
Where it is and what to know before you go
The property is not open to the public without a reservation or a confirmed guest escorting you. If you’re staying there, you’ll find a mix of rooms, bungalows, and cottages spread across the hillside. Discretion is the operating principle, which is part of why so many celebrities have used it as a retreat for decades.
Ghost stories linked to celebrity lore
Several reported phenomena at Chateau Marmont connect directly to famous guests and residents. Staff have noted unexplained cold spots and voices in empty hallways, particularly near the bungalows on the west side of the property.
Deaths and incidents tied to the property
John Belushi died in Bungalow 3 in 1982. That fact alone drives a significant portion of the hotel’s paranormal reputation. Other guests have reported unease or inexplicable sounds specifically in that bungalow.
Bungalow 3 remains one of the most requested rooms in the hotel, partly because of Belushi’s death there.
What guests say happens in rooms and halls
Guests describe flickering lights, sounds that don’t match neighboring rooms, and a persistent feeling of being watched in the older cottage units.
Tips for visiting respectfully and safely
Book through the hotel’s official channels only. Avoid approaching bungalows if you’re not a registered guest, as staff enforce boundaries strictly. Treat the space as a working, private hotel rather than a haunted attraction.
3. The Cecil Hotel
The Cecil Hotel sits at 640 South Main Street in downtown Los Angeles, roughly 12 miles southeast of the Hollywood Roosevelt. It opened in 1927, and despite numerous rebranding attempts, it remains one of the most talked-about and troubled properties in the city’s history.
Where it is and what it is called today
The building briefly operated as Stay on Main to attract budget travelers, then underwent renovation and rebranded as Circa 1923 in recent years. Despite the new name, most people still refer to it as the Cecil, largely because of what happened there.
The most well-known cases tied to the hotel
Elisa Lam’s death in 2013 brought global attention to the Cecil after surveillance footage of her behaving erratically in an elevator went viral. Her body was found in a rooftop water tank weeks later. Serial killer Richard Ramirez, known as the Night Stalker, lived there in the mid-1980s.
The Netflix documentary "Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel" brought the building’s history to an international audience in 2021.
Why the building’s history drives the legends
The Cecil recorded at least 16 deaths over its operational history, including suicides, murders, and unexplained incidents. That volume of tragedy in a single structure is what fuels both the paranormal reports and the ongoing public fascination.
What you can and can’t do as a visitor
The building is not currently operating as a public hotel. You cannot book a room or walk through the property as a tourist.
Practical safety tips for the area
The surrounding Skid Row neighborhood requires awareness. If you visit to see the exterior, go during daylight hours and stay on the main streets.
4. Millennium Biltmore Hotel
The Millennium Biltmore Hotel stands at 506 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, about a mile from the Cecil. Built in 1923, it remains one of the most architecturally significant hotels on the West Coast and draws a steady stream of ghost hunters alongside its regular guests.
Where it is and why it attracts ghost hunters
The Biltmore has hosted presidential visits, film shoots, and Academy Award pre-parties across a century of operation. That concentration of history inside a single building is exactly why paranormal investigators keep returning. Multiple unexplained reports from staff and guests have built up across decades.
Black Dahlia lore and what is verified
Elizabeth Short, known as the Black Dahlia, was reportedly seen at the Biltmore bar the night she disappeared in January 1947. Her body was discovered days later in a vacant lot. The verified detail is that she was last seen here; what happened after remains unsolved.
The Black Dahlia case is one of Los Angeles’s most documented unsolved murders, and the Biltmore is the last confirmed location she visited.
Other spirits and sightings people report
Guests describe shadowy figures near the ballroom entrances and unexplained sounds in the lower corridors. Other reports involve a woman in period clothing near the Gallery Bar.
The rooms, ballrooms, and passages to know
Focus your visit on the Galleria and the Crystal Ballroom, both of which appear in multiple paranormal accounts. The basement-level passages also generate consistent reports from staff.
Best ways to experience it without overpaying
The Gallery Bar is open to the public, so you can walk through the main floor without booking a room. If you want to cover the full haunted hotels in Hollywood circuit, pairing a bar visit here with a guided tour lets you see far more in a single trip.
5. Hotel Normandie
Hotel Normandie sits at 6060 Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile district, about four miles from the Hollywood core. It opened in 1926 and has run quietly ever since, making it the least publicized property on any list of haunted hotels in Hollywood and the surrounding area.
Where it is and why it stays under the radar
Unlike the Cecil or the Roosevelt, the Normandie lacks celebrity deaths and documentary coverage to push it onto tourist maps. Longtime staff and Wilshire corridor residents know it as a building with an unusual number of quiet, persistent reports stretching back decades.
The most common paranormal reports
Guests describe doors opening on their own on the upper floors and a recurring sense of movement in hallways just outside their rooms at night. Others report unexplained sounds near the stairwells in the early morning hours.
Staff have noted that reports cluster most consistently around the third and fourth floors, though no single incident has drawn national attention.
What the building’s timeline explains
Nearly a century of continuous occupancy, including periods as a budget residential property, means the Normandie absorbed the kind of long-term human history that tends to generate persistent paranormal reports. Buildings from the same 1920s construction wave across Los Angeles share this pattern.
How to visit if you want a quieter haunt
Booking here gives you a lower-profile experience compared to the Roosevelt or Biltmore, without sacrificing genuine historical depth. Standard reservations go through the front desk directly.
What to ask for when booking and checking in
Request an upper-floor room when you call, and ask the front desk staff plainly about the building’s history. Most employees will share what they know if you ask directly.
Where to go from here
These five properties represent the best-documented haunted hotels in Hollywood and greater Los Angeles, each carrying a different layer of history. Some stories are verified by records and timelines. Others come entirely from guest accounts passed down through decades. Either way, knowing the history before you visit changes how you experience these places entirely.
If you want to cover several of these locations without spending a night in each one, a guided tour gets you through far more ground than any self-directed route. Our guides bring the context, verified facts, and lesser-known details that most visitors miss when they show up on their own. You’ll leave with a clearer picture of what actually happened and why these buildings still draw so much attention.
Book a spot on one of our Los Angeles sightseeing tours and let a local expert walk you through the darker side of the city.
