Check-in at the Cecil Hotel had to wait a few minutes because Kerri Torrance, the clerk working the graveyard shift one night in November, had to deal with a heist. A man staying on the 10th floor had called down to report that a woman had grabbed his money and bolted.
After the woman dashed through the lobby and burst out the front doors onto Main Street, Torrance called police while a handful of guests waited. When the wealthy abandoned downtown during the Depression, the Cecil and others like it became residential hotels that for generations housed those who were one step above homelessness.
But downtown is becoming a hip destination again, and these hotels are sought by developers who say they can turn a profit by luring university students, working professionals and tourists. A few weeks before the drug robbery, the new owners of the Cecil removed the fuzzy bulletproof glass from the check-in window. Dozens of new lightbulbs glow from antique chandeliers that hang from high ceilings in the renovated lobby.
In the s, it was one of the first public meeting places for Alcoholics Anonymous. One group, the Los Angeles Community Action Network, has sued owners of the Alexandria Hotel over what they allege are prejudiced and illegal housing practices. The website booking. But the rates vary depending on which website is used to book the rooms or whether guests have affordable-housing vouchers.
Fresh Monet, Picasso and Kandinsky posters hang on the vivid yellow, red and blue walls next to the elevators on each floor. But around the corner, reality hits: The rooms are small, bugs scamper across the floors and in the dim hallways, one sometimes encounters guests who have been using drugs or alcohol.
