In The Shadow of the Hotel Cecil

One of the most fascinating, mysterious and poorly understood buildings in Los Angeles is the Hotel Cecil.

Prominently situated in the heart of historic Skid Row, the Cecil has witnessed the neighborhood’s transformation from central business district to anything goes vice zone, from cheap flophouses to gentrified loft district.

When Esotouric gave its first tours of Downtown L.A. true crime and cultural history in 2007, the Hotel Cecil was a featured location, notable for its association with the Richard Ramirez Night Stalker murders and with dark tourism slayer Jack Unterweger, and several less high profile deaths.

But it wasn’t until 2013, when Canadian tourist Elisa Lam vanished under mysterious circumstances, only to be discovered floating in the Cecil’s rooftop water tank, that the hotel became an object of fascination for armchair true crime sleuths around the world.

So what else is there to say about the Hotel Cecil? Everything!

Join Esotouric, L.A.’s most eclectic sightseeing tour company, for a virtual exploration of the notorious, beautiful and misunderstood Hotel Cecil and its history of mysterious deaths, peculiar management choices and central role in popularizing the Alcoholics Anonymous recovery program. We’ll talk about the high profile crimes associated with the building, and some lesser known tales. And we’ll step outside to get to know the lost world of tattoo parlors, freak shows, burlesque houses, B-girl bars, pawn shops, dime a dance halls, dirty movie houses and rescue missions that once were the hotel’s neighbors.

Esotouric’s Kim Cooper and Richard Schave are the go-to experts for journalists covering the Hotel Cecil and Skid Row history, and appear in the Netflix series Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel.

This webinar is an illustrated lecture packed with rare photos that will bring the Hotel Cecil and Main Street to life. And you’ll find the look of an Esotouric webinar is a little different than your standard dry Zoom session, with lively interactive graphics courtesy of the mmhmm app.

So, tune in and discover the incredible history of Los Angeles, with the couple whose passion for the city is infectious.

Rights and permissions: By attending an Esotouric webinar, you acknowledge that the entirety of the presentation is copyrighted, and no portion of the video or text may be reproduced in any fashion.