Monday, May 14, 2007

Chaplin's Haunt






A friend of mine with a vast knowledge of the structures of Downtown conducted one of his sought after tours this weekend. Me and 6 friends headed out on a Sunday morn to listen into his guided walk -- which is part labor history of downtown and part architectural history.

The highlight of the trip was the Alexandria Hotel. If you haven't read up on the Alexandria, you should. The history of the place is fascinating. In addition to once being the social center of high society on the West coast, the Alexandria is also where Chaplin and his friends would often congregate. Chaplin announced the creation of United Artists Agency in the lobby.

On Sunday, we were able to check out the interior of the Hotel. The security guard was fabulous and welcomed us into the hotel and was even willing to show us around the place. The guard was proud to offer up that Brad Pitt was there the day before in one of the ballrooms to film a movie.

The ballrooms at the Alexandria are amazing. Stained glass, original hardwood floors, ornate chandeliers. Wow.

I was at the Alexandria back in October for their Halloween Haunted House, which was fun, but in such a dark spot one could not make out the beauty of the rooms.

If you can, make a trek to Alexandria. Its cool.








1 comment:

celia said...

yeah, it's great. i lived in the penthouse for over ten years, just moved two blocks away last september. if you read some of my earlier posts, i blog about what it was like to live there and i have some pictures up as well.