The Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel: Where Old Hollywood Checked In and Never Checked Out

Hollywood's Golden Hotel

The Knickerbocker Hotel opened in 1929 at 1714 Ivar Avenue in Hollywood, just blocks from the famous Hollywood and Vine intersection. Designed in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, the hotel quickly became a favorite gathering place for the film industry elite. Its adjacent Lido Room nightclub attracted major stars, and the guest registry over the decades read like a Hollywood Hall of Fame: Rudolph Valentino, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio, Frank Sinatra, Lana Turner, Mae West, and Cecil B. DeMille. However, the glamour masked a pattern of tragedy that would define the hotel's legacy for the rest of the century.

Houdini's Last Halloween at the Knickerbocker (1936)

On Halloween night 1936, Bess Houdini, widow of the legendary escape artist Harry Houdini who had died on October 31, 1926, checked into the Knickerbocker Hotel to fulfill a decade-long promise. Before his death, Harry and Bess had made a pact: if it was possible to communicate from beyond, he would send her a prearranged coded message. For ten consecutive years, Bess held a séance on Halloween night. The 1936 rooftop séance at the Knickerbocker — attended by a small group while hundreds of Houdini fans waited in the lobby — was the last. Bess reportedly declared afterward that Houdini had not come through, and she ended the annual ritual. Witnesses at the event reported an unusual, localized thunderstorm during the séance. The event is well-documented in contemporaneous press accounts and is cited by PBS SoCal in their coverage of the hotel's history.

The Death of D.W. Griffith

On July 23, 1948, D.W. Griffith — the pioneering silent film director whose innovations in filmmaking technique are credited as foundational to the entire medium — suffered a fatal cerebral hemorrhage while a resident of the Knickerbocker. Griffith had outlived his fame: the same Hollywood he helped build had moved past him, and he spent his final years largely forgotten at the hotel. Some accounts place his collapse in his room; others say it occurred beneath the hotel's grand Art Deco chandelier in the lobby. His ghost is among the most frequently reported at the property.

The Tragic Death of Designer Irene Lentz (1962)

In November 1962, Irene Lentz — the acclaimed Hollywood costume designer known professionally as simply "Irene," who had dressed Doris Day, Lana Turner, and many other major stars — checked into the Knickerbocker under a false name. On November 15, 1962, she leaped to her death from her room window. Her death marked another chapter in the hotel's long and sorrowful history.

Reported Hauntings

Staff and guests have reported a variety of phenomena throughout the hotel's history. Among the most consistent are apparitions of Marilyn Monroe in the ladies' restroom and at the lobby bar, the sound of unexplained footsteps in empty corridors, cold spots that travel through hallways into elevators, and the sense of a presence pulling at bedcovers. A ghostly bellhop known to regulars as "Roger" is said to appear near the elevators. D.W. Griffith has reportedly been seen in the lobby beneath the chandelier where he is believed to have died. The hotel's upper floors are considered particularly active, with reports of full apparitions and the feeling of oppressive sadness in the rooms.

The Hotel Today

In 1972, as Hollywood Boulevard's fortunes declined, the Knickerbocker was sold and converted into senior citizen apartments — a use it retains to this day. The Art Deco chandelier remains in place in the lobby, a remnant of the building's earlier life. The property is listed in the Clio historical database and has been featured in PBS SoCal's historical programming about Hollywood's built heritage.