Plot

L.A.'s infamous Cecil Hotel has seen its fair share of death. But few know it housed some of the most violent killers. While staying at The Cecil, one intrepid journalist is hot on the trail of L.A.'s latest murderer, resident Richard Ramirez.

It's the infamous Los Angeles hotel that several serial killers called home - and it's been the site of at least 16 gruesome and violent deaths resulting from suicide, accident, or murder. The Cecil Hotel was constructed in 1924 by hotelier William Banks Hanner as a destination for business travelers and tourists, and opened in grand style in 1927. Built in the Art Deco style to the designs of Loy Lester Smith, the hotel cost $1 million to complete and boasted 600 guest rooms and an opulent marble lobby with stained-glass windows. But within five years, the U.S. had sunk into the Great Depression, and Main Street later declined into an area that would be known as Skid Row. By the 1950s, the hotel had gained a reputation as a residence for transients, prostitutes, and drug users. Serial killers Richard Ramirez and Jack Unterweger both lived there - Ramirez in 1985, Unterweger in 1991. Ramirez was known for leaving his bloodied clothes in the hotel dumpster after a murder, and walking through the lobby partly undressed - which didn't raise any eyebrows in the sketchy neighborhood. Unterweger is thought to have chosen to stay at the Cecil in homage to Ramirez.—Ulf Kjell Gür