Downtown LA feels haunted - the towering Beaux Arts and Art Deco buildings conjure the lagubrious film noir era that the city could embrace as a much-needed conterbalance in this sunny and often homogenous place.
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On Main Street is the establishment formerly and still intermittently known as the Cecil Hotel. It is one such grand, old Beaux Arts building flanked now by preppy newcomers.
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Nowhere does the form mention the murders and murderers that have captivated so many creative minds, despite the fact that people keep going there to make Youtube videos of there "haunted" stays.
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Like much of downtown LA - and the city more broadly - the history and culture are rich and often willfully ignored. There's something there ; it's not necessarily the haunting of cinematic lore. It's a film noir feeling that could be tantamount to an identity for this city.
excerpts from
Postcard from a Film Noir LA
Massoud Hayoun
2017
reblogged via Explore Parts Unknown
