The Aztec Hotel

Once I tried to stay at a haunted hotel, not sure what was scarier the unlock-able door, creepy people or the ghost sounds. It started by looking up haunted and historic places in Los Angeles- The Aztec Hotel came up.  It was once a prime spot on Route 66; a place where stars would go to socialize. Then it turned into a brothel, had booze during the prohibition, a gamblers haven and a halfway house.  In the 60’s and 70’s druggies, hippies and bikers flocked there (they never really left)- the rooms you could rent by the hour which was a perk for that crowd.

My friend and I were betting on seeing some ghosts or strange phenomena, we had planned a fun drunken and high night of ghost seeking and filming. It was a Friday or Saturday night in 2010, cold out. We parked in the lot on the side of the building, in front of a metal gate- unbeknownst to us that we had just parked below of our room of horror.

We walked in through the front doors; they were large glass and metal with an art deco design. The lobby was cold and very blue. We walked in and went to the left, straight for the bar. We stepped into a dimly lit grungy room with pool tables, neon signs, musty smell and lots of dudes-not fun looking dudes. I don’t recall seeing any other women there, just bros, frat dudes, bikers, gang banger types and addict looking creeps.  We hoofed it out of there and walked up to the reception desk. We looked around taking in the murals, the Mayan themed interior and were still super stoked to get spooked. We rang a bell for service and out popped a scraggly youngish dude, late 20’s or so. He was strung out on something- his eyes wide and pupil’s mega dilated. The jittery dude seemed happy to have us and was checking out the bags we lugged in.  We had grocery bags stuffed with camera equipment, tripods and whiskey- lots of whiskey.

The price for a room was around $60, can’t really recall. He took cash. I filled out this registration paper while he starred at me super intensely. It was weird. We notice this little TV behind the counter; it was showing black and white images of the hallways and around the hotel. This other guy stepped in from the outdoor patio,  he got the receptionists attention and they gave each other some look then looked at us and back at each other. The reception man turned around to the wall of cubbies and fumbled through a couple keys trying to decide which room to give us. We had requested a haunted room, #120. He said we couldn’t have that one.  He handed me the key chain and told us to use the stair case to the left.

We went up this dimly lit staircase which led us upstairs to a maroon carpeted, dingy, poorly lit hallway. We were the first room to the right. It was eerie, we waited a minute to open our door, it felt like someone was in the hall watching us, the hairs on our arms were standing up. There were broken curtains at the end of the hallway; we half expected to see someone come from behind the fabric.

We heard sounds coming from inside our room. It sounded like someone walking in there, but there weren’t lights on and we figured how can that be or maybe this place is really haunted! I opened the door, it creaked and we started to walk in, then a man was suddenly behind us, we don’t know where he came from. We didn’t hear him come up the stairs and we had stood in the hallway for a minute- we had been alone. He asked what we were doing, if we were going for a drink or something to that effect. He looked at our bags and us up and down. We said no and shuffled into the room quickly and locked the door. The door had many locks on it, the heavy duty twist the knob locks- a couple of them, not functional. There was a couple remnants of chain locks on there too that didn’t work.  The room was a yellowish white, yellow probably from smoke and just being old. There was a gap under the door so you could see light and shadows of people walking by.  We set our stuff on the desk on the far end of the room by the window and decided to check the room out. It stank. There were blood stains on the wall, hand prints, cum stains on the broken TV. We started hearing what sounded like scratches on the wall; it was the wall that didn’t have a room on the other side though. We got the chills and thought it was exciting. We continued to check out the room, the bed sheets had stains and dark curly hairs. The pillow cases had smeared make up on them, we pulled up the sheet to see the mattress, and it had brown with yellow and orange stains. One of the walls had been punched; the closet had broken hangers and no door. There was a door next to the bed- that wall had a hand print and the door led to an adjoining room. That room’s door was locked, we tried to lock the door on our side but the lock was broken. We closed the door and hoped no one would come in, and then we heard a knock on the other side of the door. We placed the night table against our door.  Then out came the cockroaches, just a few. They crawled on the walls and on the floor. We screamed and wished them away- they just did their thing.

Next we opened the curtains to check out of view; we kept hearing voices outside our door and saw shadows under the door. I went to check who was out there. There isn’t a peephole so I called out to see if someone was there, no answer. I opened the door and peered down the hallway and looked down the stair case. Nobody was there.  Back to the window. The screen was missing and the latch to lock the window was broken. There was a ledge; we decided to go out the window and onto the ledge to see what we could see. Under our room outside was a patio area. They had music and lights, more dudes and a lot of smoke.  We went to look down at the commotion, hopped outside and walked along the side of the hotel. We walked to the room on the other side and could see into the room. I don’t know if that room’s window lock worked or not, but nobody was in it. Just lights on, no stuff, just a bed in a dirty room. We walked back to our window and noticed on the side of the ledge right under our window hiding in the shadows, there was no light down there, was a ladder. A ladder straight to our room window that didn’t have a screen or lock. We went back inside, and then our door sounded like someone was putting a key into the lock- the only locked that worked on the door.  We shouted out that we were in there and not to come in, still in shock about our ladder and weird not locking adjoining door.  The sounds stopped and we looked down and saw no shadow under the door. I opened it and saw nothing again. We decided to walk down the hall towards the tattered curtains and window at the end. We heard people in rooms, and then we heard footsteps behind us. Nobody was there. As we walked down one door flew open and a couple came out. They didn’t say anything just closed his door and walked by us, very close and slow keeping their eyes on us and they walked passed. He continued down the hall looking forward, when they were by our room they slowed down and looked straight at the door, then went down the stairs. We went back to our room creeped out. Locked the door behind us, then walked to the middle of the room. We both felt uneasy and scared. Then there was a knock on the door. No shadow under the door. Then the door handle started to rattle. We looked out the window again and the room we had walked up to that had their light on now had the light off.  A few minutes when by of us, just letting time pass and trying to calm down. Then we heard voices outside our door, we saw shadows under the door. I tell my friend that we should swing open the door and scare them away. We crept over quietly, we could still hear murmurs. Flung the door open and nobody was there. That was too much, party over- we grabbed our bags and ran down stairs in a panic. The receptionist was watching us on the monitor and saw us running down the stairs, he was already smiling at us asking if were enjoying the stay. His hands shaky, eyes even more sunken in, we hadn’t noticed how red they were or the veins popping out on his hands that were shaking before. We hadn’t notices his sweating forehead in the cold lobby and bizarre movements. We told him there was a ladder to our window and he stopped smiling immediately, his face became a little bit red and his beads of sweat became bigger. He asked if we looked out the window and why. We told him we were uncomfortable, about the ladder, the adjoining door that didn’t lock and the people outside our door.  He asked how we knew the door didn’t lock and we said we tried it. He looked so displeased. We told him someone from the other side had knocked and he said there was no one in the other room, he even showed us the key still in the cubby behind him. We explained there were stains all over the filthy room and he said people there liked to party. Some guy from the patio came in and saw us and saw the receptionist’s face. They looked at each other sternly, then back at us. Then the guy disappeared to the outside. We saw him on the monitor that he was taking the ladder away. We confronted the receptionist and demanded our money back. He said it was just a misunderstanding and that we “should still stay, that we didn’t get what we came for yet.” We argued back and forth that I wanted the money and we were leaving, also that we had a photo of the ladder. A few men had passed through the lobby and just looked at us. The receptionist had tried to calm us down as to keep us from making a scene. The guys walking through looked concerned, not in a creepy way like what’s going on are you ok way. The receptionist then handed me my money and I wanted my register paper back also. It had my info on it, my car plate and license # and address. He refused at first saying they keep their customers paperwork for the future, what future I demanded!

I got it back and as we are picking up our bags to leave, his tone completely changed. His voice softened, he leaned forward and asked if we wanted to meet Sarah. Sarah aka Razzle Dazzle is one of the ghosts there. She died in room 120. I asked what he meant and he said that to make up for all the crap that we can go to her room and check it out. We asked for that room originally and he said no.  I can’t remember the reason why. To the right of the check in desk in the lobby was a doorway.  It didn’t have any lights on; we didn’t know where it went to. We couldn’t see from where were standing and handn’t paid much attention to it really. The stairs to the rooms were on the left. So he told us if we wanted we could go through that door way on the right and go to her room. That they don’t keep it locked, we could just go in and stay as long as we wanted. My friend and I looked at each other and both had this sick feeling in our stomach. We starred at the doorway for a minute. From what we knew there were no stairs there and there weren’t rooms on the first floor.  I walked towards it a few feet and tried to see where it went to, I didn’t get close enough. My back was to the man and my friend, they were both watching me. He told me, “That’s it, just go in there.” He said it in such a kind of high pitch happy way that made me turn to look at him, it seemed like he was trying too hard and was freaky. He was smiling huge and eagerly leaning on the desk toward my direction. His hands were now in fists on the desk, you could see he was squeezing them.  I looked at my friend grabbed our stuff and we ran/walked out the lobby and to the front doors. Once we got outside I said run to my car, we jumped in and locked the doors. We took a sigh of relief, feeling safe in there. We waited a minute and decided to take a picture of the gate and of our window. Since I had parked in front of it unknowingly we jumped out real quick and snapped some shots. We looked up to the window. We had left the light on and curtain open.  The lights had been turned off and you could see a figure moving in there and walk towards the window.  We got scared again and flew out of that parking lot.

Dun dun dun!!!!

So I looked up some info about the Aztec Hotel that is spooky. First the doorway to the right of the reception doesn’t have stairs; it led to the old coffee shop. In 2010 when we went that coffee shop had been closed down, abandoned by the hotel, not operational… so scary.

The hotel was built in 1925 by Robert Stacy Judd. Judd became obsessed with Mayan culture; he favored the idea that buildings had spiritual power. He had murals painted all over the hotel, his favorites were the Sun God, Kinich Ahau and the God of Lust,  Uayeb.  He romanticized the idea of human sacrifice and fantasized so much about the Mayan culture he would wear Mayan clothing, wear face paint and have secret rituals. He was rumored to be part of secret societies and the Aztec Hotel was rumored to hold gatherings for secret societies of it heyday. The hotel was named Aztec due to Americans lack of knowledge or care to differentiate between cultures. Mayan was unknown, Aztec was a term that meant Mexican, but fancy/exotic.  It started with 36 rooms, 7 apartments and 7 stores. Now it has 40 rooms, and 2 stores. The hotel was closed down in 2011, although there is a new coffee shop on the corner currently open and the barbershop. What’s interesting about the barbershop is through all the ups and downs, the bankruptcies, different owners, even now that the hotel has been closed for years the barbershop has never closed. Since the Aztec Hotel has opened the barbershop has been open and never shut down. The bar inside to the left when you walk in the lobby that I went to was turned to that bar in the 80’s, called the Brass Elephant. The room it was in was a banquet room at one point and a restaurant.

The spirits: There are supposedly many ghosts residing at the hotel, but there are 3 most commonly referred to. Sarah aka Razzle Dazzle. She died in room 120, there are several stories about how she died. Bottom-line her head and the furnace collided which killed her. Now the heating in that room and 3 others next to it stopped having heat. The furnaces could never be fixed, try after try. Sarah is reportedly a lingerer; she sits on the bed and waits for you. In room 129 someone died, they believe it’s the apparition of a woman in white that roams the halls. She also knocks in that room. Then there is Bob, a man who came to gamble to win money to support his wife and kids. He lost everything, got super drunk and killed himself. He stumbles around the halls. There have been other murders, suicides and what not, but the main ghosts are Sarah, lady in white and Bob.

I went back to the hotel on Monday just to see what’s going on with it. I saw the new coffee shop on the corner, they have games you can go play.  The barbershop was closed, it was at night when I went, but is still operational. I peaked in through the main doors and the lobby had many lights on and an operating fish tank with fish. I parked in the empty lot, where I parked the first time; there was a ton of garbage out. It looks like renovations, but seemed to be halted. The room I stayed in had the window open. I looked through the gate to the patio and it had toilets and sinks strewn across it. The fountain I could hear it on and water, but it looked dry- weird. I walked to the other side of the hotel and around back. Many windows on the 2^nd story were open or broken. The bottom level had curtains and pieces of fabric taped to the window. In the back it looks like a wash room with dryers and had a light on. There was a mattress in there, no sheets or blankets. I looked again and saw legs on it. Man legs, no TV or any noise coming from it, just legs on a mattress. Mega creepy.

Here are more pics of the hotel through the ages, I got these all from google searches, a movie filmed there, hotel site.