← Behind The Song: Classic Rock Chronicles
Behind The Song: Classic Rock Chronicles
If These Walls Could Talk: Infamous Rock ‘N Roll Hotels
00:11:03
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A
Guys, thanks for helping me carry my Christmas tree.
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B
Zoe, this thing weighs a ton. Drew Ski, lift with your legs, man.
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C
Santa.
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D
Santa, did you get my letter?
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B
He's talking to you britches. I'm not.
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A
Of course he did.
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B
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A
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B
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A
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B
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E
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D
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E
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B
Welcome to the behind the Song podcast, taking you deeper into classic rock's most timeless tunes. Here's your host, Janda.
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D
I'm Janda. And in this bonus episode of the behind the Song podcast, let's check into rock and roll hotels. Accommodations that have become as infamous as the bands that have stayed there, partied there, and in some cases, done incredibly crazy things there. Oh, if these walls could talk. Let's start with the Continental Hyatt House in Los Angeles. Situated in a prime spot off the Sunset Strip, this hotel had a reputation for being forgiving to rock star's bad behavior, and so was frequently the preferred booking for bands. And so much so that it was nicknamed the Riot House. It was most notoriously associated with Led zeppelin in the 70s, who rented out whole floors of the hotel and threw foam parties in the pool. They traveled with their accountant, who was ready at checkout to deal with the damages. John Bonham rode motorcycles down the hallways and they trashed rooms regularly. One story goes that when an employee of the hotel told him how he wished he could destroy a room too, they told him to pick one and go crazy and add it to their bill. They weren't the only ones to love it. Jim Morrison dangled himself out of a window of the hotel over the Strip and Spinal Tap were interviewed there, lounging by the pool in the classic this Is Spinal Tap movie. It also of course, makes an appearance in Cameron Crowe's film Almost Famous. Keith Richards and Keith Moon dropped TVs out of its windows. I'm not sure that's what Gene Autry, the singing cowboy, had in mind for it when he opened it in 1963. Since its wildest days, it's undergone rehab and is now the Andaz West Hollywood. But you can still enjoy a little bit of the hotel's checkered past by eating in the restaurant, which has been named affectionately the Riot House. Just down the Sunset Strip, tucked away from the street is the Sunset Marquis Hotel. It's still kind of a mecca for rock stars and actors, a place known for discretion and handling things internally. Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley allegedly wrote Rock and Roll All Night while staying there, and the song fits the establishment, especially during its peak Anything Goes days, rock stars were known to mill around the pool and try to outdo one another in terms of antics. Rob Halford told the story of someone in a room neighboring his trying to play music louder than him. So he cranked up his boombox and as it was the newest model at the time, won the volume war. Put a point on the board for the Metal God did you know you.
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C
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Other noise related feuds, Whitney Houston and Dave Gehenn from Depeche Mode were once in neighboring rooms and they got into a battle over Houston's volume while rehearsing in her room. Pete Townsend calls it the tattoo clinic because everybody there is covered with tattoos. Warren Zevon crashed through a sliding glass door after he was already kicked out of the hotel for fighting, but they let him stay. That was the general idea of the Sunset Marquee. You could get away with nearly anything, especially back in the day. Flea from the Chili Peppers jumped off the roof into the pool for one of their videos. Now the pool is only four feet deep, mind you. Business deals were made and broken. At 4 o' clock in the morning, Mick Jones from the Clash stepped one foot inside of the Sunset Marquee, dropped his bags and said, I'm home. Steven Tyler said that it was a safe place for people like him to be. A wild place full of glitterati, with hotel management turning a blind eye to whatever revelry was going on day or night. Conveniently, there's a recording studio in the hotel's lower level, Nightbird Studios. It's all still very much in operation, although its rock and roll heyday was from the 70s to the 90s. Speaking of celebrity discretion, the Chateau Marmont is another Sunset Boulevard hotel known for its rock star clientele. Jim Morrison fell from a second story room trying to do a Tarzan act swinging from a pipe, after which he commented that he had just used up the eighth of his nine lives. The hotel's been around since the 20s and has always had a famous clientele. Bette Davis almost burned it down after falling asleep with a lit cigarette. And it will always be known as the place where John Belushi died of an overdose in Bungalow 3 in 1982. Moving on to New York City, the Chelsea Hotel is a longtime haven for writers, actors, painters and artists, and has been since it was built in the late 1800s. In fact, it was originally built as a housing co op and then turned into a hotel. Situated at 222 W. 23rd St. It's housed the likes of Leonard Cohen, who wrote the song Chelsea Hotel Number Two about his relationship with Janis Joplin when they were both staying at the hotel, and Bob Dylan, who wrote Sad Eyed lady of the Lowlands there. Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, the Stooges, Kurt Cobain and so many more have stayed at the Chelsea. The Grateful Dead once performed on the roof of the hotel, but it is most infamously known as the hotel that Sid Vicious from the Sex Pistols was staying at with his girlfriend Nancy Spungen, when Nancy was found stabbed to death in their room. After he was charged, the hotel divided the room into two rooms, two to avoid it becoming a kind of punk rock shrine, some say. The Chelsea Hotel, which is in the National Registry of Historic Places, is totally haunted. Let's head to the Pacific Northwest. Seattle's Edgewater hotel, built in 1962, became a part of rock and roll history soon after it opened. Perched on top of a pier over Elliot Bay, it was the hotel the Beatles stayed in when they toured in 1964 at the height of Beatlemania. They stayed in room 272 and after they checked out, management cut up the rug in the room and sold the squares as souvenirs. There is still a suite themed after the fabs at the Edgewater. Led Zeppelin were banned from the hotel after their second stay in 1969 in a notorious incident involving a mud shark which was found dead in their room. And the fact that they threw all the TVs out of their five rooms into the Puget Sound. You know, the same type of antics they pulled off later in Los Angeles. The Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, Frank Zappa and many more have all stayed at the Edgewater. It got pretty wild at the infamous Swingo's Hotel in downtown Cleveland too. This was the hotel of choice for rock stars touring through the city from the late 60s to the mid-80s when it was turned into a comfort inn. A restaurateur named Jim Swingo's took over what was then called the Downtowner Hotel and would end up catering to a celebrity clientele. Led Zeppelin and their ever present accountant, the whole Elton John, Bruce Springsteen and many others stayed there. And it all started with a stroke of luck for Swingos by way of Elvis Presley. Elvis's promoter was looking for accommodations during a Midwest tour and reached out about making it their home base, booking four full floors. Swingo's changed the name of the hotel from the Downtowner to Swingo's Celebrity Inn and began what has been called a run of organized entertainment chaos. Elvis Presley remained Swingo's favorite guest even when he made off the wall requests like having his steak cut into little pieces and then reassembled like a puzzle before he would eat it. The staff was always dressed in tuxedos and attended to every need, no matter how weird it was for each of their famous guests. And finally, let's go to sweet sweet home Chicago. The Rock and Roll Days Inn, as it was known before the name change to the hotel. Versi has a long history of famous musicians who stayed there going back to the jazz age. Louis Armstrong stayed there and jazz musician Bix Biederbick lived there in the 20s when it was newly built and called the Diversey Arms. Its rock and roll heyday was the 90s. Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love reportedly started their love affair in that hotel after a Nirvana gig and and on another occasion dyed their hair in the bathtub of their room. The Offspring were kicked out after they trashed their room at the hotel. A band named PA caused a scene by inviting so many people to an after party that they woke up all the other guests, including Freedie Johnston, who also happened to be staying there. The Goo Goo Dolls had their laundry done by the front desk clerk. Sheryl Crow rollerbladed down the hallways. Dave Matthews Band, Radiohead, Foo Fighters and so many more stayed at the hotel. Kind of a Chicago home away from home, perfectly situated at the border of Lakeview and Lingen park at the corner of Diversey, Clark and Broadway. Although things are a little bit different now, the lobby walls are filled with albums from those artists who made the Rock and Roll Days Inn a part of Chicago's music history. Shout out to the Phoenix Hotel in San Francisco, which was the place to stay for 39 years if you were a rocker. The Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam and so many other bands found a welcoming home away from home at this mainstay in the Tenderloin district, which is shutting down in 2026 after its 39 year lease is up. I myself once watched as a band's tour manager threw several band members into the pool at the Phoenix, but that's a story for a different day. Have you ever stayed at a rock and roll hotel? What other hotels should be on this list? Find me on the socials and let me know in the comments. And as always, thanks for listening to behind the Song on the Way. Much more classic rock and roll.