I was lucky enough to catch all of "Hotel California" this morning on my ride to work. Another one of my favorite songs - in fact, I'm pretty sure it makes the Top 3 (don't quote me - that shit changes on the daily). Now, when asked about its meaning, Don Henley said it was about the excess and hedonism in America that characterized the 60s, 70s, and 80s. I can see that....but I prefer to imagine it as a ghost story. Like the Hotel Cortez, from "American Horror Story." If I really think about it, though, that was the central theme of "AHS: Hotel" - that those shallow pleasures are fleeting. You can try to get as much out of it as you can, but it's all temporary. And afterwards, all you're left with is emptiness, so you keep trying to get more and more and more. But you can never fill the void. We are all just prisoners here of our own device. I don't know if it's just how Don Henley sings it or the inherent poetry in the words, but that lyric in particular haunts me. Like "The Matrix" - we could all break free from this existence...if we really wanted to. But we don't. That's scary and it's safe here, with our alcohol and sex and other assorted numbing agents. Note: I have been drinking tonight and if you like to mix your poisons, there are worse things than Bombay Sapphire gin and Diet Coke.
I also heard a theory that "Hotel California" was about the Manson Family murders. They stab it with their steely knives but they just can't kill the beast. That's them killing Sharon Tate, about 8 months pregnant at the time. They were on so many drugs, the Family didn't even see those poor people as humans anymore, just monsters. Wealthy monsters. Charles Manson got the most severe sentence, and he didn't even kill anyone. Charisma is a deadly weapon in a monster's hands. Unfortunately, that's something most serial killers have in spades - otherwise, they wouldn't be near as successful. When I was studying psychology, that was my favorite concentration - forensic psychology. But after you study a few serial killers, you have a basic understanding of them all and it comes down to one thing. They feel nothing but emptiness most of the time, but killing gives them pleasure, at least for a little while. And if something ends the emptiness, wouldn't you do it?
Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, she got the Mercedes bends
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys, that she calls friends
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget
We went down a dark road there so let's climb back up - one of the most commonly googled questions is "Is there a real Hotel California?" Well, no, there's not just one - because the people who are googling that question are really just looking for a haunted hotel that the song is based on. In fact, there are several that have been proposed as the "real" Hotel California. The first I'll mention is the Hotel Cecil (now Stay on Main), which the Hotel Cortez from "AHS" was based on. Like in the show, the hotel hosted such infamous guests as the Night Stalker, Richard Ramirez, and another serial killer named Jack Unterweger. The hotel has also been plagued by an unusual string of suicides and suspicious deaths, making it the perfect place to base a horror story on. Another haunted hotel that could be a contender as the notorious "Hotel California" is the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. This hotel is famed for being the place where a lot of Golden Age actors stayed when they were starting out their careers, including Marilyn Monroe. There have been rumors of hauntings in the Roosevelt, some of which are these famous actors, such as Marilyn and Errol Flynn. Wouldn't that be exciting, to meet Clark Gable's ghost unexpectedly in the stairwell? I think so. But I'm the type of person who wants to stay in a haunted hotel. Finally, the last potentially haunted hotel I'll mention is the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, which is where Elizabeth Short (the Black Dahlia) was last seen alive. Hotel staff say that, after her death, Ms. Short took up permanent residence in the Biltmore's upper floors. She had good taste - there are shabbier places to spend the afterlife than the Biltmore.
The video is footage and stills from a performance of The Eagles playing in Largo, MD. Enjoy!
"Hotel California" Video
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