Stay on Main Reviews

do not stay at this hotel! any one who has watched American Horror Story Hotel will understand.

I do not like that hotel after the fact Elisa Lam died in that hotel and believe that changing the name of the hotel will solve everything

The rooms were tiny and there were no restrooms in rooms nor showers

We were greeted by the friendliness guy we've ever met. The lobby and breakfast area is very nice. Breakfast is fresh waffles or cereal - all options are very high in sugar and are served on very wasteful disposable plastic but this is typical for America. This place is more of a hotel than a youth hostel. It's very nice, constantly being cleaned and they provided everything we needed. There is no air conditioning but we were able to turn the light off and leave the ceiling fan on and be comfortable all night (in the Spring). All in all I was pleasantly surprised with my stay here!

Why did they change the name from Cecil to Stay on Main.

I VISITED HERE IN 1980 and it was dirt obviusly not modern life im loving this place its awesome!

Scary and dangerous neighborhood. Small room without any A/C, shared bathroom. Breakfast is a joke. Parking in a ghetto spot 15 $ a day. Come here for the price, nothing else.

Nice Entry but the rooms are older but enogth to sleep there. The breakfast only contains waffles, juice and coffee.

Heard many stories about this place. Wanted to stay here but the place looked closed and empty. The front doors were locked and it was very dark inside. This was during the day. We had looked forward to checking it out since it has a history and a very older hotel. Not sure if its been shut down or not.

Wow, I've never paid over $100 for a hotel room and been treated so badly. The room smelled Luke fried chicken, the staff were completely useless , first they wouldn't let my friend stay because she had lost her ID and had a paper temp from DMV and two other picture ID after we just paid $25 to park and went back 5 min later and would not refund money. Went and talked to manager they actually would accept the ID, the guy at counter just had no clue what he was doing . Then put us in a room where we could hear every word the two neighbors were saying, we actually had upgraded to the fried chicken room. Then the laundry machine stopped working and clothes were soapy and wet and they would even give back the $1.50 we spent on that, guy at counter said he "definitely couldn't refund money . .....the lobby looks cool......that's it, don't be fooled , complete trash

AKA "Cecil Hotel" This place is permanently closed. I never stayed here but walked around the historical and spacious, marble-covered lobby. It's hard for me to give it such a poor review as it was one of the few truly haunted places in LA and so ingrained in LA culture. American Horror Story's Hotel season was based on this notorious building. Read up on it, better than any horror movie you'll see.

I DO NOT RETURN TO THAT HOTEL OR EVEN IF THEY PAY ME AFTER THE EVENTS THAT HAPPENED THERE

This was horribly creepy as one would expect everyone should go see it when in America, Los Angeles. Hollywood Up biatches!

It's was sucky... front desk was rude and didn't have my booking info. It was overall hassel

CECIL HOTEL!!!when i will visit loas angeles i staying this hotel,GREAT HORROR HISTORY!!!

I learned a lot after staying. I could stay normally without any particular change. I was entangled with the homeless in front of the hotel...

don't visit this haunted hotel if you don't want to get killed or if you don't want to share with strangers the shower

When I walked in to the lobby it was quite good, when we reserve the hotel they didn't mention that it's a shared bathroom .and also no parking. And there rooms are really small. I think the price are expensive compare to the rooms and place.

DO NOT COME HERE! Please for your own safety this place is haunted and numerous people have died here do not put yourself and your family at risk

i was been there for the history.. was amazing, and please stop to say "the water is black" its not true

Pretty good place to stay. Very reasonable room rates. Wifi in the building but it is very, very poor.

apart from the murders ,serial killers ,suicides and unsolved murders.. its quite lovely and friendly staff who tell you where to go and where not to go because you could be killed! Nice bed covers and hot showers are lovely.

Sad that you can call something like this today as a hotel. Hygiene well and the location only !! Do not book !!!

I liked the old Hotel Cecil signage from the past. Super creepy

um can i put it out there a chic died there, along with 2 serial killers and one of the last places black dahlia was seen alive. its a hunted chaotic.

We stayed at this hotel on our visit to Los Angeles. We chose it for price and location, ignoring its history.

The room was old and small. The bathroom shower was not a shower as such, the water fell on the same floor as the rest of the bathroom, it did not have a shower tray. But we were lucky. Many rooms there do not have bathrooms inside the room, you can enjoy a cheaper stay if you choose this last option.

For only accommodation it is fine, as long as you do not know the stories behind this place, as was our case. Now, if you have already learned and read a lot about it, you'd better choose another option.

I ordered at mixed dorm room, but was put in a two bed room. We still have to share kitchen and bathroom with the whole floor.
There's no air-condition in the room, and it's boiling hot. The place might look nice, and it's clean, but this is NOT A HOSTEL. I will not stay here again, and if you're a backpacker, expecting a hostel where you can meet people, you'll be disappointed!!!

Great location, comfortable bed, helpful courteous service, but very basic bathroom facilities and breakfast. Overall, for location on a budget.

lowlifes, drug addicts, murderers and ghosts. enjoy your stay!

My stay here was good. The facilities are clean and it was definitely value for money. The best part of staying is that they have complementary breakfast (cereal, juice, waffles), a free theater, wifi, and some exercise equipment. Not to mention the staff is pretty friendly, especially a dude called Eliu! Would recommend staying for budget travelers looking for bang for their buck.

No spirits! At night there are noises and moans. Other than that, not a ghost to say hi. I want my money back.

My instagram @iamzmn

Great amazing! Except the people here are horrible so many homeless people in the hotel! Really? Nothing could be so bad

The service is nice. It's just pretty slow. The rooms were pretty nice except that the shower and the toilet being together was weird. My overall experience was really good!

It is located in heart of Downtown which makes it easy to access DTLA attractions and Metro Station by walk. The room is decent with good price and complimentary breakfast.
Downsides: No complimentary parking and some say it's not advisable to walk towards skid row at night time due to some incidents in the past.

If you are looking for a hotel just to stay at night and explore out all day, then this is a good choice

Stay is clean, safe, cheap, and conveniently located. Staying here, taking the bus from LAX to Union Station, and being close to rail, has allowed me to visit LA without having to rent a car.

The place has its funkiness to it-- the attempt at hip decor falls flat and reads as a tacky attempt to gentrify skid road. I first stayed at Stay when it was an enclave within a bigger SRO hotel building (called the Cecil) that historically served a more down and out clientele. Those days are over, and anyway even then I never had a safety or cleanliness issue there. From what I can tell, it has become a kind of large defacto hostel, without all the grossness of shared kitchens and bunk beds and things. The walls are thin enough that one could have a noise issue, but I never did.

I spent 3 nights there, my room was nice and clean, Its a good option if you planning mpve fast in LA to another point, very central to everywhere. My rate Included breakfast and was real good. No bad. People who talking about the water don't have common sense, who drink water from the faucets in this days?? If you are thirsty get a bottle of water!!!!. Anyway odl creepy stories make the place more interesting. My next stay on LA will be there.

If cheap hotel/motels are on your radar for whatever reason (let's not get into all the reasons one would be looking for or In search of a cheap/fairly priced hotel/motel/bed and breakfast/place to stay) then 'Stay on Main Hotel' is a location/establishment I would totally consider if I was you. Also, little bit of a back story on this location. I stayed here years back (at least three or four years ago or possibly even longer as my memeories of my past visits to Los Angeles are a little fuzzy) this hotel was under a different name, in which I will do the right thing and not disclose the name of said former establishment.) The reason the name was changed was due to an alleged controversial conspiracy, involving a murder and a cover-up of said murder. And because of these SHOCKING allogatious rumors, there are also rumors that this Hotel is HIGHLY haunted. Although, my experience told me otherwise. Anyone who is a ghost Hunter or someone who likes to or wants to try and stay at possibly haunted places, come stay here and check it out for yourself. My experience at this establishment was a fairly pleasurable experience so I rank it 4 stars.

Very outdated, not clean, carpet smelled like piss.

The hotel itself is not bad (though nothing more than sufficient).
Rooms are sufficiently clean, bathroom facilities so and so. The hotel itself is a pretty old building. One important thing: "downtown" is one of the worst zones of LA. Don't book anything there if you're thinking it will be nice to stay in the center, it's totally wasted time. Rather, prefer something on the coast.

Enigmatic; but everyone talks about cases like Elisa Lam, the Black Dahlia, suicides and murders ... but to be honest in any hotel where we have stayed, those and many more cases have happened that we would never find out.
There are that and more in hotels ... many stories that we can never know and that we do not want to know.

Got a great rich history behind it. Can't speak for the quality of the stay though.

The Hotel is awful. Small rooms and the breakfast is a joke. See the picture...

I went to this hotel to see the elisa lam elevator, they were very polite and told us no.

Most of the people commenting have never actually been here. They're just talking about things they read. The water tastes just like all the water in LA...lol little joke but no, there's nothing off about it. Stayed here three months when me and my bf were hitchhiking and landed in LA. Normal hotel.

The service here reflects the management's own problematic behaviors: recklessly cheap! Here you'd get free water that has been used to soak dead body with.

Very..very. spooky ..really kind misery scary...this hotel it's full of Mysterious tales..

I liked the hotel. I came to LA in september, so the weather was fine. The staff helped me a lot with information about the city, they even gave me a map from a touristic review. The hotel provided nice internet access and it is very beautiful, with decoration of art deco style. The room was simple and efficient. The location was close to greyhound station, to metro station, to sheraton hotel... I could easily ride the city and come back to the hotel. Many young tourists from Europe and Asia, too. Of course, this is not a spa, this is a very unexpensive and efficient place to stay in LA.

Stayed here back many years ago with my family and rooms were too small, weird noises t night and at one night we even heard screeching and screaming. I was creeped out and later found out history about this Cecil Hotel which apparently is a murder hotel. ( Women found dead in water tank and 2 different serial killers lived here)

no bathroom inside. no internet access in the room.

yo i have never been here and most likely never go.Due to all the death that has happened in there. including the death of Elisa Lam holy moly super sketchy.I do not recommend going there who knows if you will ever make it out alive....

Very creepy, no bathroom in the room, breakfast tasted like cardboard. Has a dark past.

Clean rooms, but to say they offer Internet and breakfast should be considered a lie. No choices and barely functioning Internet

The water tastes like Chinese food excellent service

Its closed so you can't go inside but it's still really dope to see. You get a super eerie feeling just being there. I definitely got the chills more than a couple times. Knowing the background of this place and then actually visiting it with that knowledge is really intense.

I lost my ds in the water tank, but they wouldn't let me get it out

This place is closed, people must be reviewing it from 3 years ago...I wanted to spend a night here because AHS Hotel was my favorite season and I'm obsessed with haunted LA (Griffith Park, the Roosevelt, Max Factor building etc) and believe the other person who posted here that it's completely dark and closed to the public. I doubt Stay on Main was able to maintain the price of the real estate after they found a tourist in a water tank (this, after two serial killers lived here).

Please stop saying the water pressure is low the water is black the water has a funny taste THOSE ARE THE SAME COMPLAINS THE STAFF GOT WHEN THEY FOUND ELISA LAM NOW STOP LYING!

MORDHOTEL!

A good hotel according to the website, but in reality anything but that.
Location: Located on Skid Row, the homeless district. When parking the car (no hotel parking spaces available, only paid parking spaces) we heard pistol shots about 50 meters behind us. A homeless crackhead begged us insistently. It smells like urine.

Equipment: drab room with ceiling fan and blue painted walls. Questionable hygiene. Dirty toilets and showers in the hallway. Flickering lights and scratches on the doors.

History of the hotel: 2 serial killers lived and murdered here (Richard Ramirez alias "the Nightstalker" and Jack Unterweger, the former even threw his blood-smeared clothes into the hotel's laundry chute).
A student (Elisa Lam) died here in 2013 under mysterious circumstances. After she was obviously pursued and tried to flee in panic (the elevator tape can be seen on YouTube) she was found decaying in the hotel water tank after 2 weeks after the guests complained about the dark, sweet-tasting water.

The Pigeon Lady: Old lady who was raped and mutilated and found dead in one of the rooms.

The Black Dahlia: Victim of a Cruel Murder. Said to have spent her last night here (google it even if you have a strong stomach)

In addition, numerous suicides, mainly by cracking the window.

Very uncomfortable when you find out the whole thing in your room through internet research.

2 stars because it can be considered an attraction for morbid horror fans.

Stay on Main, the Cecil Hotel, is one of the coolest places I have stayed. I decided to op for the double twin bed with shared bathroom. The room is very clean, and comes with all the amenities that one would expect from a much more prestigious hotel. The shared bathrooms have not been a problem, I simply think that I am taking a shower at the gym or some other place where you might have to share a shower. Although I opted for this option, they do have accommodations available with a private bathroom. I have stayed in many hotels throughout the Los Angeles area and for the money this has been quiet a wonderful surprise. There are only two things that I think could be improved upon, perhaps offer parking somewhere at a discounted or "hotel" rate. The second thing being that perhaps the ownership should consider installing air-conditioning in the rooms, Mitsubishi makes awesome little HVAC systems that are the size of a microwave. Anyway, I definitely will be staying here again!

Will never forget this place. Me, my husband, and 2 other friends stayed for an event. Omg we were not informed about communal bathrooms/showers, or about any history of the place. It was dirty, there was no AC, and vagrants were all around the hotel. We didn t actually learn about the history until a year after we stayed. I don t mind staying in a place that s haunted . I would have just liked to have been informed. Found out the bars were placed on the windows to prevent additional suicides. We joked about it while we were there not knowing it was the truth.

I stayed here when I was in LA for real unlike most of the people writing reviews. It you're too afraid to stay in the hotel yourself, don't weird a review. I was here in 2017. The water was fine. The hotel was creepy but that's the whole reason I stayed here was the haunted history. The water is not black. It does not have a funny taste. Skid row is literally outside the door but I walked around dt LA in the middle of the night and survived. Did get bed bugs. That was the only real bad part.

Stayed here by myself for a few days just to get off the street. The decor was great, nostalgic. The tap water is black!