Flames engulfed the historic Morrison Hotel, featured on the cover of The Doors’ 1970 album of the same name, after a fire hit the landmark downtown Los Angeles building.
More than 100 firefighters responded to the fire, which began around 11am Thursday, and had the burn under control in under two hours. Several dozen people inside were able to escape, including possible squatters and three people rescued by firefighters on the third floor.
“There were some unhoused persons exiting the building,” Margaret Stewart, an Los Angeles fire department (LAFD) spokesperson, told CBS News Los Angeles. “We did have firefighters place ground ladders to fire escapes because they could see there were a couple of people coming to the fire escapes.”
Heavy flames had already inundated the building’s fourth floor when firefighters arrived and the LAFD has not yet been able to confirm whether the floor was fully evacuated.
The music photographer Henry Diltz captured The Doors at the Morrison Hotel in a 1969 image that graced the cover of the band’s fifth album.
In a 2020 Facebook post Diltz reflected on a fortuitous moment that allowed the band to pose for the photograph: the hotel clerk, who had said no photography was allowed at the hotel, stepped away from the front desk for just long enough for Diltz to shoot one roll of film. In the image, the band’s singer, Jim Morrison, is front and center just under a Morrison Hotel sign.
As the album cover shows, rooms at the time were available for $2.50 a night and Diltz remembered the building as a “funky old sort of flop house”. In recent years, the 110-year-old building has struggled to keep tenants.
In 2004, about 40 tenants of the building sued their landlords for maintaining slum-like conditions. The building was ultimately vacated in 2008, and in 2016 developers purchased the building with plans to transform it into a luxury hotel. Those plans stalled, however, and in 2022 the Aids Healthcare Foundation purchased the building with the intention of creating an affordable housing development.
The foundation had not yet begun renovating the building when the blaze caught hold on Thursday, however, it noted that many unhoused people had begun sheltering inside in recent months - despite its efforts to blockade entrances.
“As soon as we secure the building, the homeless come up with power tools within hours and just cut the locks off,” Mark Dyer, vice-president of operations for the foundation, told CBS News Los Angeles.
In response to the news that the historic building had caught fire, Diltz told the CBS affiliate that he was “very sad” to hear of the blaze. “I hope somebody will rebuild it,” he said.