| Hotel Alexandria | |
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The Alexandria under renovation in 2008. |
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| General information | |
| Location | 501 South Spring St., Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Opening | February 12, 1906 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | John B. Parkinson (original building), Parkinson & Bergstrom (1911 addition) |
| Developer | Bilicke-Rowan Company |
The Hotel Alexandria is a historic building that was constructed as a luxury hotel at the beginning of the Twentieth Century in what was then the heart of Downtown Los Angeles. As the business center of the city moved gradually westward, the hotel decayed and gradually devolved into an SRO hotel housing long-term, low income residents and gained a reputation for crime and being unsafe. As the area was revitalized in the first decade of the 21st Century, the building found itself at the heart of this and has recently been remodeled as apartments.
Due to its elegant design and the fact that its public rooms sat disused for decades, it has been the site of countless film shoots and its iconic Palm Court ballroom is a protected Los Angeles landmark.
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The Hotel Alexandria opened on February 12, 1906 as an 8-story luxury hotel at the southeast corner of Spring and 5th Streets in downtown Los Angeles. Its popularity resulted in a twelve-story addition being built behind the original building in 1911.
The hotel was the most luxurious in Los Angeles for a number of years, but the construction of the Biltmore Hotel four blocks east in 1923 presaged a gradual westward movement of the entire downtown business district over the next few decades. The old heart of Los Angeles along Broadway was gradually abandoned and a new downtown grew up west of the Biltmore along Figueroa.
The hotel was gradually transformed into a Single Room Occupancy or SRO hotel, housing low-income residents. Its location near Los Angeles's Skid Row meant that it had long since ceased to attract overnight guests. During this period the building became notorious for drug crime and its generally dangerous character.
In 2005, as the area around the hotel was gradually transformed with the conversion of numerous buildings to expensive lofts, the new owners of the hotel converted it permanently into an apartment building. Remodeling was conducted gradually, as short-term tenants moved out. The building today contains a mix of market rate and subsidized housing. Its elegant ballrooms house a variety of local arts organizations and its lobby features The Gorbals, a restaurant run by Top Chef winner Ilan Hall.
The hotel has played host to countless film shoots. Its ornate public rooms, marble staircases and decaying grandeur have made it a favorite of movies, music videos, television commercials and fashion shoots. In David Fincher's Se7en, it served as the residence of the killer, John Doe, for a lengthy chase sequence through much of the hotel. Other films shot in the Alexandria include Dreamgirls, Water for Elephants, Spider-Man 3, and Domino.
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