February's SPIRITS with SPIRITS

GHOULA meets for cocktails in haunted places on the 13th of each month. “SPIRITS with SPIRITS” is a casual gathering of regional ghost hunters. Open to all, from the curious skeptic to the passionate phantom pursuer. Make friends, and toast a ghost! Let's put the “Boo!” back into “booze.” All those who attend will receive a free G.H.O.U.L.A. button. If you already have, please wear it so others can find you.

THE DATE: February 13th, 2010 (Saturday)
THE PLACE: The Down and Out Bar @ The Alexandria Hotel
(501 S. Spring Street, Los Angeles) map
THE TIME: 8pm to the witching hour

THE GHOST(S):

Outside of the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, The Alexandria Hotel is perhaps the most famous haunted hotel in Los Angeles. When it opened in February of 1906 with its red velvet walls, Tiffany stained glass sky-lights, gas lamp lighting, brass rails, gold leaf ornament, crystal chandeliers, and Turkish carpeting, it was considered the West's most luxurious hotel. Movies stars, Presidents, a King, a Prime Minister, and Tom Mix's Horse have all past over the lobby's "Million Dollar Rug." So named, not because of its cost, but rather because of the amount of money transacted over that rug (at the front desk) in a single day.

However, the passing decades (and many different owners) have not been kind to this once grand landmark. Strangely, as the customers began to disappear, so did parts of the hotel, which were sealed off (with walls) at one end of the hotel, and thus creating weird inaccessible floors (like a separate building unto itself). Even though there have been many attempts to "save" or "restore" this once great place, with each year, the poor Alexandria seems to get a little sadder, as her glory fades even more. That intrinsic sadness extends even to its most famous ghost, an unknown woman dressed all in black (as if in mourning), who eternally walks the halls.

Although much has been reported about the persistent, and varied, hauntings inside the hotel, not much has been written, specifically, about the hauntings inside it's ground-level bar, the Down and Out (Formally Charley O's). One bouncer told GHOULA, that "Even though there are many ghosts upstairs, the real crazy stuff happens down here." He recalled a time when he watched a row of drinking glasses flip over by themselves, one after another. Unlike the apparitions upstairs, the paranormal activity here seems to be more poltergeist-ish in nature, where objects (and sometimes people) are moved about.

One theory as to this activity's origin goes back to the 1950's and 60's, when this bar would fill up with boxing fans, who would come to L.A. to see a prize fight. A clever boxing promoter of the time arranged for out-of-towners to get a discount on rooms if they had tickets to see the match. To attract this type of clientele further, the spectacular ballroom (once considered the most beautiful room in Los Angeles) was converted into a training gym, where public boxing demonstrations could be held. Does the agitated energy of those rowdy hooligans, who hoped for blood in the ring (as well as a possible barroom brawl of their own), still linger within the walls? Come to the Down and Out Bar and find out for yourself.

(To see last month's location...)