While many of us obsess over every last detail of the Cecil Hotel’s tragic past, it appears the new owners of the Downtown property are more eager to erase it.
The exterior wall on the historic hotel’s southwestern wall has been entirely painted white, instantly erasing the classic, hand-painted advertisement for room rates that has appeared on the building since your Art Walk stumbling days. The massive signage, which spanned multiple floors, was a familiar landmark of the Downtown skyline, stating “HOTEL CECIL LOW DAILY WEEKLY RATES 700 ROOMS.”
The Cecil itself, a 98-year-old former beauty and L.A. Historic-Cultural Monument have amassed the attentions of legions of curious history buffs, armchair detectives, and horror fanatics in more recent years, given its years-long chronicles of violent deaths, suicides, alleged serial killer sightings, and utter tragedy connected mostly with its years as an SRO building on the fringes of Skid Row.
The news of the erasure came to L.A. TACO’s attention through the Instagram feed of Esotouric Tour Company, who learned of the changes through the historic preservationist Lost Angeles Facebook group. Furthermore, the owners of Esotouric say the protected sign’s removal is illegal.
Esotouric is encouraging others in L.A. who are bummed and enraged to hear about this latest example of L.A. having its history erased by rapid urban development to send their own message to the Office of Historic Resources, asking it to restore the sign.