We somehow ended up staying at the Cecil Hotel last night. Unbeknownst to Samuel's kind friend that booked the room for us, it has a pretty notorious history. If you heard about the 2013 death of Elisa Lam and watched the viral videos, this is the same building where all of that occurred. Just last year in June there was a suicide to add to the already significant list. (Many occurred by jumping.) Based on my research, it's housed at least 3 different murderers -- the two most prominent being Richard Ramirez, the "Night Stalker," and his likely copycat, Jack Unterweger the "Brassiere Strangler." Quite a few people were also found murdered in the hotel.
It's been oft-noted as haunted, though we personally didn't experience anything paranormal. We even stayed on the 7th floor where some gruesome things purportedly went down. The elevator did break down while we were eating breakfast, which was brought to our attention by the long line of firefighters filing through the lobby. It also looked like someone tried to break into the room directly across the hall using a bump key(?). There was a broken fragment left in it while the tenants stared helplessly waiting for management, but it seemed to be resolved the next time we passed by.
But the whole area in general is weird. Gentrification + skid row = a lot of visible activity at all hours of the day. I'm somewhat familiar with that area, but I wouldn't recommend staying in most of DTLA if you have other options.
