A night in The Cecil Hotel
You’ve seen it right? That hugely popular Netflix Doc ‘Crime Scene: The vanishing at the Cecil hotel’. Well, I accidently stayed there. About three months before the hotel closed, it was actually called Stay on Main at the time, but I had flown into L.A for a music festival called Desert Trip. And what a Trip it was as well!
Needing somewhere cheap to stay for the night, my girlfriend found this hotel at a more than reasonable price and absolutely no questions were asked.
Flying into LAX was a daunting feeling, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from The City of Angels, it was big and bright, and sexy. I’m not completely naïve, I wasn’t expecting just the glitz and the glamour you see in the movies, but I damn well sure was not prepared for L.A.
From the outside, Stay on Main/Cecil Hotel looked nice. Even as you walked into the main reception, it looked rather glamorous. I had a good feeling about this place. I did, however, notice that there was two entrances to the hotel, one that was open for anyone to walk in and out of, and one that you had to have a keypad code to get in. I did not overthink this in any capacity.
On entry to the hotel there were lavish looking seats, the main reception was all lit up, there were some stairs that took you up to the next level where we were told breakfast was to be served the following morning. It was a continental buffet, but with pancakes! Yum.
So far, so good.
The way to get to our room was in an elevator, or as I’d say it back home (where I am right now), a lift. The lift was most definitely out of place. It looked like a service lift, or a goods lift you might find in a warehouse, and don’t quote me on this, but if memory serves me well, it was small. I did not overthink any of these things in any capacity. Even when a man at the very last minute joined us in the lift who was clearly incapacitated and not by booze, the only thing I thought was, ah its cool, he must be staying here, the staff never stopped him. I still did not overthink a single thing.
Alarm bells should have started ringing when we stepped out of the lift, might I add, the incapacitated gentleman stayed on for a higher floor, but the temperature was unbelievably warm. Uncomfortably warm. It felt like someone had unintentionally left the heating on — for 15 years!
However, you know me, I didn’t overthink it.
The room was no cooler. We were only staying for one night though, so it didn’t matter too much. Just needed a place to put our heads down. I will tell you right now, there was no reason for it, but we just did not drink the tap water. We bought bottled water from the vending machine at reception. Knowing what I know now, I actually don’t think it would have mattered too much if we had drunk the water. I won’t overthink it.
I didn’t manage to sleep very well at all. It was so hot and uncomfortable, paired with jetlag, I only slept for about two hours. Around 4am I got dressed and decided I was going to go for a walk and see if any corner stores were open at that time, we didn’t pack toothpaste and I had it in my head that I needed to go and get it. I don’t know why, I guess I was just overthinking it.
Around 4:30am I walked out of the hotel, leaving my girlfriend asleep on her own in that hell hole… Nah, it wasn’t that bad, nonetheless, I left her there.
The first thing I noticed were just how many homeless people were around. How did I not notice this before? I mean, I was tired, but had I really just walked through all this poverty and misery completely in my own bliss unaware of what was around me? I felt shame. Ashamed of myself, shame for humanity. Sadness. I am fully aware the lengths people will go to in order to escape their hardships. This was one of those moments in life when reality hits you hard in the face with a brutal slap. I saw old people wandering around looking lost, pushing all of their Earthly possessions in a trolly cart. I saw a grown man stood in one spot paralysed by whatever substance he had taken, frozen with his mouth open and a pool of saliva running from it. I saw many examples of mental health issues, people talking to themselves. I had never heard of Skid Row before, and now I will never forget it.
Let me say this though, singularly we cannot fix the problems of the World, it is what we hope for from our governments. You can buy a person a sandwich or water, you can offer them money — I can already hear your loaded response of “But they will just spend it on booze or drugs”. I am not here to question, be judge nor jury. What was I going to spend it on anyway? Drugs or Booze? Maybe, Life is short. Just make sure your response in the face of these problems is compassionate and kind. And afterwards, try not to overthink it.
I bet you didn’t see this little twist in the story coming did you? It’s all good, neither did I when it happened. My tale of The Cecil Hotel wasn’t scary or Haunted. It just was. It happened. I was there. I stayed on Main. This is just the beginning of my California story though. I hope you will join me on the next one.
