Skid Row's Notorious Cecil Hotel Reopens After Remodel, Will Serve As Affordable Housing
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – A ribbon cutting ceremony was held in downtown Los Angeles' Skid Row Tuesday to celebrate the remodel of the historic and notorious Cecil Hotel.
The Cecil Hotel, located at 640 S. Main St., will provide affordable residences to 600 low-income individuals through single-room occupancy units and efficiency studios between 160 and 176 square feet.
The hotel was the subject of the 2021 Netflix documentary series "Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel," that chronicled the mysterious death of a Canadian student who rented a room there in 2013, as well as other dark periods of the hotel's history.
On Jan. 26, 2013, 21-year-old Elisa Lam went missing after being last seen at the Cecil Hotel. Her body was found about three weeks later in the roof's water tank.
LAPD investigators closed the case later that year, calling it an accidental drowning.
In 2017, the L.A. City Council designated the 1924 building an Historic-Cultural Monument, calling it a "representative example of the early 20th Century American hotel industry" and "an example of Beaux Arts style commercial architecture."
The facility, which was acquired by Simon Baron Development and is operated by the Skid Row Housing Trust, includes secured entry, a community kitchen, laundry facility, a recreational room and on-site case management services provided by SRHT Health and Social Services.
People are eligible for Cecil Hotel units if they make between 30% and 60% of the area median income, but most units are designated for people making 30% or less.
(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
