The Millennium Biltmore Hotel

Posted: 10.16.2024 | Updated: 02.12.2025

The Millennium Biltmore Hotel, one of the most iconic Los Angeles hotels, is not just a historic landmark but also the birthplace of the Academy Awards. Built during Hollywood’s golden age, it remains a glamorous symbol of the city’s cinematic history—though some say its halls are also home to lingering spirits of the past.

Once a hub for Hollywood elites, every inch of the Los Angeles hotel’s sprawling grounds pays homage to the definition of “royal.” 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. 

Ready for a spine-tingling experience with Los Angeles’ ghosts? Book a ghost tour with LA Ghosts today!

Is the Millennium Biltmore Hotel Haunted?

Los Angeles is a city deeply intertwined with the glamour of Hollywood, but beyond the glitz, some of its most iconic hotels harbor eerie secrets. The Millennium Biltmore Hotel, for example, stands as a chilling testament to the city’s haunted past, making it one of the most infamous Los Angeles hotels for paranormal activity.

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.

Millennium Biltmore Hotel History

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. 

However, on January 9, 1947, the hotel became entangled in one of the most infamous unsolved murders in Los Angeles history. This dark connection only adds to its eerie reputation among the most haunted hotels in 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.”

Millennium Biltmore Hotel Ghosts

For years, guests and staff at the 11-story Millennium Biltmore Hotel have reported countless ghostly encounters. One of the most frequent sightings is that of World War II-era troops appearing in the lobby, as if they are still passing through. As a result, the hotel remains one of the most haunted hotels in Los Angeles.

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. He ran out of the building screaming, never to return.

However, one A-list ghost rumored to haunt the Millennium Biltmore Hotel has both believers and skeptics keeping their eyes open. Los Angeles hotels may be known for luxury, but this one carries a chilling legend.

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.

The 10th and 11th floors of the Millennium Biltmore Hotel are shrouded in mystery, drawing visitors with tales of the supernatural. Among the most chilling sightings is the tormented spirit of Elizabeth Short, seen staring straight ahead—as if waiting for someone. But who? We may never know. Yet, her restless presence keeps this historic landmark among the most haunted hotels in Los Angeles.

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 Los Angeles 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/
• https://www.thecorsaironline.com/corsair/uncategorized/2013/10/30/inside-millenium-biltmores-haunted-halls
• https://laist.com/news/la-history/my-spooky-la-story-a-stay-at-the-biltmore-hotel-made-me-believe-in-ghosts
• https://www.novelsuspects.com/articles/a-brief-history-of-the-black-dahlia/