Haunted Hollywood: The Roosevelt Hotel

It was sometime in December when I went to Hollywood to check out the museums and hang out with some friends. Being from the Los Angeles area, you'd be surprised how little I know about the real Los Angeles, as people like to say. To close out the night, we took a tour with La Ghost Tours to walk around Hollywood and learn about its haunted history. And even though we learned about many of the buildings and celebrities, there was one building in particular that really caught my eye. It was hard to miss it, and looking at it now, it's hard to accept that at one point it was literally falling apart famous celebrities from when Hollywood was the envy of the world and one of luxury and celebration of the entertainment industry. It's an enormous building with three hundred guest rooms, conference rooms, and offices that at one point was a place of leisure for Hollywood stars, and now we know that some of them never left. The building still stands in its iconic place and proudly with the large letters at the top Hotel Roosevelt. My name is Edwin, and here it's a dark memory. The hotel first opened up in May fifteenth of nineteen twenty seven, and with all the fanfare imaginable twelve four construction had started the year before, and everything was great. It had fountains, beautiful chandeliers and marble columns. And what made it even more famous was at the very first Academy Awards back in nineteen twenty nine place there, and it soon became a place for movie shoots, parties, and even movie premieres, and with famous events too, and little memories like when Shirley Temple was learning her very first tap dancing lessons. It was there directly from Bill Robinson actor Montgomery Cliff, who stayed there for several months while they were filming From Here to Eternity. Marilyn Monroe also enjoyed staying there. In fact, she stayed there for two years in the nineteen forties when she started modeling, and her first professional shoot for a magazine took place there at the pool of the Roosevelt Hotel. The room where she stayed. The suite has vintage furniture, mid century accents, and over seven hundred and fifty square feet of hardwood floor. But as time passed, the hype started wearing off. And the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel started going downhill in the nineteen fifties. The ceilings that had been carefully painted with artwork and lots of care simply got painted over. Part of the hotel itself were demolished. In fact, it almost got torn down completely, but it was saved by a sudden investment from Radison Hotels, the chain. They invested over thirty million dollars to get the hotel to reach its glory days once again, and today it looks great. But it may also have stirred up some unusual activity from ghosts. Some say that the ghost of a man walks around the Blossom Ballroom. His attire is proper. It's a black tuxedo. It looks as if he's attending an event. But he's not the only one. There's also a ghost that likes to be at the Blossom Ballroom, but this one can play the piano and he makes full appearances, according to guests and employees, although he's said to use a white tuxedo unlike his other ghost companion. They say that in the middle of the night you can hear a haunting melody on the piano. Another one of the ghosts that is said to roam the hotel is one of a little girl. The first recorded appearance of this young entity happened when Peter James was in the Academy room back in nineteen ninety two. When psychic investigators try to communicate with her, she managed to say that she was worried about her mother, but then she vanished completely. They say that she roams the halls looking for her mother and plays around on her own, and when you ask what she looks like, the employees of the hotel itself say that the ghost looks like a real kid, not giving the slightest idea that she's a ghost. She wears jeans and a pink jacket, while other people say that she wears a blue dress, and when they see her, they think nothing of her. She's just another little girl, although they wonder why she's not with her parents, but that's about it. She sings and laughs, and when they tell someone about it, they realize that it isn't the first time she's been spotted. Then they find out that she's not alive anymore. Guests and employees referred to her as Caroline. A very famous actor of his time, Montgomery Cliff, is also said to Haunt the Roosevelt Hotel. Having been a multiple award winning actor, his life was turned upside down when he had a car accident that his face needing a partial reconstruction, and his career slowly started going downhill from there. Because of the pain that he was feeling and the disappointment, he turned to drug abuse and alcohol. Then it started affecting his work. Today they say that he roams around room nine twenty eight and on the hallway of the ninth floor. There is an account that I was told while I was on this tour when a guest was reading in bed one night with her husband, she suddenly felt something. Somebody was patting her on the shoulder. She thought it had been her husband, so she started talking to him as usual. When she realized that he wasn't responding, she turned around. That's when she saw him in a deep sleep. With all the celebrities at Haunt the Hotel, the most notable one is Marilyn Monroe, who, even with all her fame and success in the movie industry in Hollywood, had mental health issues and turned to alcohol and drugs, and in what's now called the Marylyn Suite, Number twelve, hundred, which is one of the most requested ones. There is a common story that keeps happening. It's said to be the place where she makes unexpected appearances. You see, the employees got Marilyn a full length mirror during her stay, and while she enjoyed it during her time alive, it seems like she's still using it. When people would be in that room, they would claim to see a sad, blonde woman reflected on the mirror when they turned around to see who she was. Nobody was there, and it kept happening, with complaints to the reception desk arriving every so often. It happened so much that the management made the decision to take the mirror away. So now it just sits in one of the management offices where they too claim to see Marilyn Monroe reflected on it. And it's strange because they say that Marilyn Monroe remains the most hard working ghost in Hollywood because of the many appearances that she makes. They say that her home in Brentwood, California, the place where she died, has its share of sightings. Her ghost has been spotted all over the property and there are even some photos that have caught what appears to be a strange figure walking around it. Even the loof Hippodrome on the Santa Monic appear is said to be a place she still visits. She had actually been there for a photo shoot on the beach, but was known to disguise herself, and people watch workers have a legend they talk about where if you visit the place at night and look at the mirrors, you can see her sitting near the gift stand. And even in the recent filming of Blonde, actress Anadadamas said that the ghost of Marilyn Monroe was making itself known, even saying that she would throw things around when she got angry, saying that it may sound quote very mystical, but it's true we all felt it. The film itself really dove into Marylyn's life, after all, with filming the opening scenes in the actual apartment where she used to live with her mother and the death scene. It was shot in that same room where Marilyn had died. For those who may not be aware, she committed suicide by overdose, though some still believe that she was actually murdered. Along with the reports of ghostly celebrity sightings, investigators say to capture photographic orbs. Well. Guests say that they have gotten mysterious phone calls from rooms that apparently have nobody inside. But as my ghost walk continued around Hollywood, I've found some more about the area, and I'll tell you a little bit more about them up next. Stay with me, and here are some other ghosts from Hollywood. They say that the one from Lucille Ball from I Love Lucy makes an appearance every so often at her Hollywood studio, where guards have claimed to see her. Her spirit is seen in the building's upper floors, and whenever she's around, they can all smell her flowery perfume. Let me give you a little bit more about Lucy before I continue. I actually used to catch I Love Lucy on my TV sometimes when I would stay home from school. Lucille Ball's show I Love Lucy was made with her husband and it made her a star. It was a huge hit in the nineteen fifties. It was a comedy show. But I'm sure that you have heard of it where she played Lucy Ricardo. You might have at least seen the cover with the heart and it's saying I Love Lucy. But anyway, There's an interesting story about her that happened after her death. See, Lucille died during a surgery in nineteen eighty nine, and her home was sold by her second husband a few years after her death. But one of Lucille's friends went to see the house for the last time and suddenly he saw a tall redhead peering through the fence. That's when he realized it was Lucy, and she was looking right at him. They say that she still roams a new house that was built after hers was demolished, primarily haunting the attic area. Anyway, back to Hollywood. You know, I've always wondered if the legends about the Hollywood Sign are real, and in researching for this episode, I found some information on the Forbes magazine article about it. You see, the sign is at a place called Griffith Park and more specifically on Mount Lee. Back in the day, there was an aspiring actress named peg Entwistle climbed up to the letter H of the Hollywood signed and threw herself down. And now hikers are set to see a woman dressed as if it were the nineteen thirties around that exact area, and there are a ton of these stories enough for them to be their own episode from Hollywood star George Reeves, Harry Houdini, and John Belushi. Now I'm not a big celebrity fan, so I'm not too familiar with them, But once you're there, you really get into the lore of old Hollywood and its ghosts. The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel seems to be the hub of celebrity hauntings, so it would be a good place to start if you're in the area. Skeptics say that people visit Hollywood to see celebrities and they immerse themselves in that scene, so sightings even though those who have passed makes sense. But Hollywood also had its share of tragedy among all of those actors who spent their whole lives trying to make a career out of acting and never got to see themselves on screen. With that high level of passion for something, a strong emotional attachment must have been created. It's a place of ghosts, with children like Caroline looking for their mothers, or actors who developed substance abuse problems, and even of those who loved being in front of the camera so much that they simply refused to leave. This episode of Dark Memory was produced by me Edwin Kovar Rubias as part of scary FM's collection of podcasts. Up next, check out Scary Mystery Surprise, where Michelle and I talk about creepy things stuff that we find around the Internet, but with a more funny take on it. You can get ad free content and support the production of shows by trying out scary Plus. You can try it on Apple Podcasts or by going to scaryplus dot com. Thank you very much for listening. Let's see you soon.