The Millennium Biltmore Hotel
Posted: 10.16.2024 | Updated: 10.16.2024
The Millennium Biltmore Hotel, the very location where the idea for the Academy Awards was conceived, serves as a historic icon in the city of Los Angeles. It’s a glamorous reminder of the peak of the movie industry when it was first built. Once a hub for Hollywood elites, every inch of the hotel’s sprawling grounds pays homage to the definition of “royal,” with grand-coffered ceilings, Renaissance-styled frescoes, and spacious ballrooms.
This timeless structure maintains its reputation for grandeur and a lengthy list of celebrity visitors who have graced its doors into the 21st century. However, it also has a reputation for its equally long list of ghosts that reportedly wander its spacious grounds. One of them is tied to one of the most unsettling and unsolved murders in American history. Whether seeking opulent grandeur, a touch of the macabre intertwined with its ominous history, or simply a place to stay, The Millennium Biltmore Hotel offers a unique experience as one of the most haunted locations in Los Angeles.
Who Haunts the Millennium Biltmore Hotel?
Los Angeles is a city that has cemented its synonymy with the allure of showbiz. So much so that it’s easy to forget the city of angels also has its fair share of ghostly sites, with the Millennium Biltmore Hotel standing at the dead center. Steeped in history as much as it is in grandeur and high-class luxury, this timeless landmark continues to enthrall ghost enthusiasts with reports of spectral children, shadowy figures, and mysterious apparitions. But there’s one otherworldly VIP that keeps guests standing on edge: someone who is tied to the most brutal unsolved murder to occur in Los Angeles, making the Millennium Biltmore Hotel one of Los Angeles' most haunted destinations. Ready for a spine-tingling experience with Los Angeles’ ghosts? Book a ghost tour with LA Ghosts today!
Host of the Coast
The Millennium Biltmore Hotel couldn’t have opened at a better time in 1923, with the cinema industry entering its golden era. On its opening night alone, the hotel’s main ballroom held more than 3,000 guests, many of them A-list celebrities who would become regular guests as the hotel hosted The Academy Awards throughout the 1930s. Quickly earning a reputation as "The Host of the Coast," the hotel wasn't just a place to stay, it was the place to stay.
Coupled with a grandiose, elegant ambiance and a world-renowned reputation, the hotel survived many of America's most challenging times. During the Great Depression, it was home to the world’s largest nightclub, The Biltmore Bowl, while the Gold Room became one of Los Angeles’ most famous Prohibition-Era nightclubs. The hotel’s second floor served as a military rest facility for soldiers recovering from the battlefront of World War II. Even The Beatles made a memorable entrance at the hotel during Beatlemania, landing on the roof via helicopter due to the overwhelming crowd of fans swarming the entrance.
It was on January 9, 1947, however, when the hotel became embroiled in one of the most infamous unsolved murders in the history of Los Angeles. It was the last place where aspiring actress Elizabeth Short was last seen alive before she stepped out of the hotel lobby shortly after 10 p.m. Her body was later found in a vacant lot outside of town, bisected, drained of blood, intestines removed, and a ghoulish smile carved into her face. Elizabeth’s murder was never solved, and with a penchant for black clothes and her most recent role in a movie titled The Blue Dahlia, she was posthumously given the unsettling nickname “The Black Dahlia.”
Children are Watching
A plethora of ghost experiences have circulated around the 11-story hotel for years from guests and staff alike. One of the most common involves the presence of World War II-era troops passing through or hanging out in the hotel’s lobby. Another story revolves around the first floor, where guests hear a party taking place. In contrast, other guests throughout the hotel hear voices originating from unoccupied rooms nearby, talking in the distinct trans-Atlantic accent that was popular in the 1940s. One guest in particular supposedly experienced a figure hovering over her in the middle of the night. Even the bartenders don’t get a break from the hotel’s ghosts as they supposedly experience apparitions passing behind them daily.
The second and ninth floors are rumored to be the most haunted at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, with the former inhabited by the spectral figure of a nurse. Others have encountered the spirit of a little girl who is said to be heard giggling and running around on the ninth floor. In some instances, it’s been said guests saw her out of the corner of their eyes, only to see no one there when they turned around.
More disturbingly, the spirit of a faceless boy is also believed to be on the hotel roof. One day, an HVAC technician headed up to the hotel’s rooftop to fix the air conditioners, but to his horror, he encountered the boy’s spirit, causing him to run out of the building screaming and never to return. Yet, there is still one A-list ghost rumored to roam through the Millennium Biltmore Hotel that has believers and non-believers keeping their eyes open.
The Black Dahlia
Aspiring actress Elizabeth Short entered the Millennium Biltmore Hotel on the night of January 9, 1947, at 6:30 P.M. She supposedly spent the next few hours anxiously pacing up and down the lobby, asking the concierge if she had any messages and making a phone call from the phone booth. A witness allegedly stated that a person nearby motioned through the lobby window for Short to follow them. The 27-year-old actress walked out of the hotel’s lobby to her grisly fate with her murderer, never to be found.
Guests claimed that, in the following years, they would still see the spirit of Elizabeth Short pacing through the hotel lobby or standing in the elevator dressed in her signature-style black dress. An aura of mystery also surrounds the 10th and 11th floors, where Short’s tormented spirit is also seen ignoring the living, just staring straight ahead, as though she is still waiting for someone, but for who? We may never know as rumors of her anxious ghost continue to allure visitors to the Millennium Biltmore Hotel.
Haunted Los Angeles
Los Angeles, a hub for Hollywood's glitz, glamor, and iconic landmarks also harbors a darker side. The historic Millennium Biltmore Hotel stands at the center of it all as one of the city’s most haunted destinations. Serving as the exemplar of royalty and status for Hollywood’s elite for over 100 years, the hotel continues to maintain its reputation of attracting visitors with its show-stopping aesthetic and rich history.
Thanks to its equally long list of otherworldly guests and connection to one of America’s most notorious unsolved murders, it also provides the perfect destination for those searching for a ghost experience. Are you brave enough to see some of Los Angeles’ most haunted locations firsthand? Book a ghost tour with LA Ghosts today. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, and keep reading our blog for more real California hauntings.
Sources:
https://www.millenniumhotels.com/en/magazine/us/los-angeles/history-of-biltmore-hotel
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