Long Live Downtown Los Angeles

[edtraveller]

Mixed emotions with this one. I was so hooked, got careless and warned by security - by then had spent so much money there they were actually cordial about it.
Won't name the property as unlike the SF one before, they still have properties around the world so keeping confidential.
When I first found the place in 2016, it had a very crazy air about it. Parties could get violent; people had been shot there. Anytime you walked around at night in the corridors - you had no idea who or what you'd run into. Same with calling elevators - the doors would open and what you would see could really make your evening! That was when original management and security just enforced people not hurting the property - or each other, and didn't care about eccentrics wandering the hallways. Aside from the many sex noises, the fun of the place was simply that you had no idea what you would experience that weekend. Also, their 24 hour restaurant was one of the best in the city. Even after I stopped staying there regularly, I'd still go to that canteen; the loss is very great.
The corridors themselves were fun - thick steel doors - almost riot proof as I found out one night (different story). Dingy lighting from ceiling globes in a red-ambient hallway - almost had a haunted house/funhouse feel all the time.

So the property is the victim of the pandemic/lockdown/shitty local government. They closed in 2020 never to reopen. On one hand I would have loved to go back for nostalgia - using much more careful methods then I did for my 2-1/2 year stint. However, to me it died a bit before that. Tragically, the entire original management staff was killed in a freak accident. I guess the parent company out of Seattle had no more staff to spare, so farmed the property out to a local REIT - who were a bunch of stuffed shirts. They never figured out that the chaos of the place was what made it profitable - even considering the regular barf and wall damage they had become so expert in repairing. What appeared were some 'family friendly' executive types who tried to boutique the place out - while as a boutique the place sucked considering the hard, plasticky ultramodern furniture in the rooms - not a place to stay for comfort or business. Their new security guards were trussed up in fine sportcoats with fancy crests, and ipods to monitor guests coming and going. No more obscene holiday parties. The last year I stayed there during the Adult Con, rather than the partygoers from the convention filling up the hotel and screwing their brains out every night, the overworked tech crews supporting the event populated the hotel, making it one of the quietest weekends I had spent there. So it was time to move on.

That said, the memories are still sharp; it was the first place I stayed where I could actually count on hearing loud lovemaking at some point rather than the chance occurrences at other places. Lastly, the early mix of fun, high class quirky individuals that ran the place and befriended me can never be replaced. Here are some memories:

imager.jpeg

IMG_0441.jpg

[edtraveller]

2016:

SoCal2016Nov20B2.mp3

SoCal2016Nov29C1.mp3

[edtraveller]

2017:

17Apr14C1UD.mp3

17Apr23CoupleA1aUD.mp3

2017May14-D1FullSession.mp3

[edtraveller]

And 2018:

2018April-LosAngeles-SofaKingWet-I1.mp3

2018Jan6-CplA.mp3

2018VDayCorr-2.mp3

[emmpet8]

A very detailed and interesting description of the venue and it's history. Plus lots of files to download and listen to. Thanks a lot for this great contribution.

[anondf]

nice. Thanks for the share

[Medium74]

Thanks for the files, the story and the pics.
What file is the heel pic?

[spirou]

All really good! A lot of “oh daddy’s” Thanks for sharing!!

[Winterland67]

Thank you very much!

[edtraveller]

Thanks for the files, the story and the pics.
What file is the heel pic?

Your lucky day (and mine).

Was about to post a regret, but then occurred to me to search the file name in my Google photos, revealing Feb 12, 2018 capture. Listened to the ones from then and remembered!

What I really wanted was to record the lobby couple, who were unfortunately leaving for an outing as opposed to going up to a room..

Enjoy...

2018VW-G1.mp3

2018VW-G2.mp3

The first was caught in the evening; second occurred early next morning before I drove to San Diego.

[Medium74]

Thank you gekko1 for the files
Very good work.

Any background information about the couple?

[edtraveller]

Thank you gekko1 for the files
Very good work.

Any background information about the couple?

Not at all. I was hoping to track them to their room, but they were going out; never saw them after

[gatinho75]

Great captures! Thank you gekko!

[rareesence]

California Dreaming! Lovely.

[Jbrown]

I hope Gekko will post more from the archives for us just until the hotels open up in a few weeks. I am sure we are all planning some fresh recording this summer.