"We are not a missionary, we are not a halfway house, we are a tourist's hotel." That's a clerk at the Hotel Cecil, speaking to the LA Times about the 80-year-old hotel which was purchased last summer for $26 million. Sure, the hotel, which is located between 6th and 7th streets, may have a sordid history (murders, drug use, etc.) and a visitor may still spy an errant cockroach or stumble upon a hallway mugging, but the new owners are planning $9 million worth of renovations and may even change the hotel's name to the Pearl. Currently, rooms rent for $50-$60/night, while suites go for $100/night, while the paper notes that some residents still live full-time at the hotel and that affordable-housing vouchers are still accepted. And here's a delightful fact: Some locals call "Cecil 'The Suicide' because over the years a number of people have plunged to their deaths from the building." [Via Flicker user mattlogen]
· Winds of change sweep skid row [LA Times]
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