Pics from our honeymoon stay at LA's much-maligned Cecil Hotel (& a new Netflix doc about the hotel)
Last night my wife & I watched the Netflix show on the disappearance of Elisa Lam at the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles and guess what, we stayed there the year before she did in 2012.
I had booked 4 nights without knowing what it was but after one night we decided to get out and checked into the Super 8 on Sunset Blvd instead. We're Canadian & had no idea about the history of the hotel when I made the booking, all I knew is it was very affordable and downtown.
We had arrived in LA by Amtrak late at night so didn't see the poor skid row denizens surrounding the area lining up on the sidewalk until the next morning.
When we checked in, there were all kinds of vivid characters loitering in the posh-looking marble and brass lobby but we didn't feel unsafe and besides, both myself and my wife are quite large in stature and people often take me for a biker anyway with my long hair & beard 
(had a Honda CM250 many years ago but that's another story)
When we got to our room, the rugs were sticky, the bathroom floor tiles worn away, the beds looked like they were from the 1940s, and we slept with our street clothes on. Never mind the noises from the room next door.
Here are a couple pics from our stay. If you're feeling adventurous in LA I recommend it, otherwise I'd stick with a brand-name hotel.
The Netflix documentary series on The Cecil turned out to be a very good commentary about the divide between rich & poor in general and the serious social problems in California in particular, as well as shining a light on conspiracy theorists and so called internet sleuths.
The view from our room at the Cecil:
The lobby:
The main entrance, sorry for the quality - it was taken from a taxi & is my only pic of the main entrance
Here is the Netflix preview, very interesting documentary.
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