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90028
323-466-7000
Situated right in the heart of Hollywood, the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is a stylish property built in 1927 as the centerpiece of the film world - a role it still fulfills. Always the place to see and be seen, it staged the first-ever Academy Awards ceremony in its Blossom Ballroom in 1929, and it has hosted a variety of major movie premieres and opening night galas during the following four decades. The hotel began a two-year forty-million-dollar restoration in 1983 and today features 335 beautifully appointed rooms. Hollywood's "Walk of Fame" where the big movie entertainers of the past and the present have their names engraved in stars on the sidewalk, is right outside the hotel on Hollywood Boulevard. The renowned Mann's Chinese Theater is also on the doorstep, and attractions such as Universal Studios, Disneyland, Beverly Hills, and the Hollywood Bowl are all within easy reach.
The ghost at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is Marilyn Monroe, Montgomery Clift and a number of other stars. Even the hotel's publicity material admits, "Yes, this property is haunted. There are many ghosts and spirits we know about, and probably a lot more that we don't know."
The easiest to check out is in the Blossom Ballroom. In mid-December 1985, just two weeks before the hotel's official reopening, actor Alan Russell, working as personal assistant to the general manager, discovered a cool spot in the ballroom. Lots of staff and guests have experienced it, and it has even been investigated scientifically. It's a circle, about 30 inches in diameter. The temperature in the circle is about 10 degrees cooler than the rest of the room. There is no obvious explanation for this and, although the cool spot dissipates when the room is crowded, it soon returns when the room is empty. Psychics say there is a man in black there, showing a lot of anxiety.
Cleaner Suzanne Leonard had plenty of cause for anxiety herself on the same day Alan Russell discovered the cool spot. She was dusting the tall dark-framed mirror in the general manager's office when she saw the reflection of a blonde girl in the glass. She turned around to speak with here, but there was no one there. Puzzled, Leonard reported the incident to her boss, who revealed that the mirror had once belonged to Marilyn Monroe and had been removed from the poolside suite Marilyn occupied at the hotel when the film star died. The mirror has now been moved to the lower level elevator landing, so curious guests can keep their own lookout for Marilyn's ghost.
Stay at the hotel long enough and you could even cast your own film. Montgomery Clift, who spent 3 months in room 928 while filming "From Here To Eternity" has been felt brushing past people in the corridor outside the room where he once paced for hours, learning his lines. There's a "ghost writer" in the personnel office, who taps away at the electric typewriter after the empty office is locked up for the night; a lighting man who turns the lights on and off in Star Suite 1101/1102 and a sound man who makes telephone calls to the switchboard from empty rooms. There are even cast parties. Guests quite often call to complain about noisy neighbors in the room next door to theirs, only to be told the room is empty.
It would all make a thrilling film. But Montgomery Clift does not seem to welcome modern filmakers to room 928 and has caused all kinds of problems. Marilyn's mirror doesn't want to be filmed, and the cool spot in the ballroom is cold enough to affect audio equipment.
Research psychic Peter James spent some time investigating the hotel's phenomena in the spring of 1992. He felt the presence of numerous film stars: Carmen Miranda in a hallway on the 3rd floor, Humphrey Bogart near the elevator, Errol Flynn, Edward Arnold and Betty Grable in the Blossom Room; and Montgomery Clift up in room 928. As he walked into the hotel's Tropicana Bar, James exclaimed, "Marilyn Monroe is here, right here, and her presence is very strong". So who needs to go to the movies? It's all there in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
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