This downtown Los Angeles hotel has a storied past for all the wrong reasons.
Two infamous murderers stayed there during the height of their crime sprees. Additionally, there have several suicides, three women jumped out of upper floor windows, not to mention room burglaries, hallway muggings and rapes. Let me put it this way, the Cecil was an option when Motel Six was deemed too posh.
The hotel was recently remodeled in an attempt to clean up its act. I think the name has been changed as well. But can a new sign, a fresh coat of paint and some new appointments from IKEA make a difference?
If you’re the writers and producers of one of TV’s newest cult shows, the weirder the better. Theyre using the hotel ias a backdrop for the fifth season of FX’s oddly addicting American Horror Story. The storyline this go round is called Hotel and based on strange events that have occurred at the Cecil over the years. So, watch this video that’ll explain everything and including the bazaar Lisa Lim case. Besides, my thumb hurts.
Yeah, the Cecil of yesterday was a scary and strange place. Don’t know much about its recent facelift, but I know that back in the day, it had a steady occupancy rate of seedy and transient guests. Perhaps, people stayed there because of was the low-cost of lodging or perhaps they came for the lure of its dangerous reputation or risking your life by showering or drinking anything from the hotel’s water supply (the thought of that is absolutely repulsive) To hell with possible ghosts and psychic crime scene imprints in every room, I doubt I could stay there because of the water, even if the system has been replaced ( which I I’m sure it has) and then scrubbed down three times by Laotian spinsters awash in Clorox.
THE CAST
AHS has a repertory cast each season save for this one. Leading actress Jessica Lange is taking this year off. Evan Peters, Denis O’Hare and Sarah Paulson return for their fifth series. Angela Basset and Kathy Bates will be there for their third stints. You’ll also see Chloë Savigny, Mare Winningham and Matt Bomer, whose name sounds like that of second year NFL quarterback.
But wait….there’s more. I’ve left at the name of the newest character.
See the long-haired blond? It’s not creepy old Greg Allman. it’s not Anne Coulter or Annie Lebowitz with make up. It’s Lady Gaga, who appears as the wealthy, elusive hotel owner.
Poke her face.
HOPEFULLNESS
I’m trying to have hope for season five. I’ve been disappointed since the first season and I’ve felt the series has been difficult for me to make invest in motionally. But I’ll give it a go and endeavor to write one of my skewered reviews after the show airs every Wednesday night, starting in early October.
BUT……in the meantime, the same writers and producers are premiering their new show, Scream Queens on FOX this coming Tuesday evening. If that proves to be as campy and quirky as I hope it’ll be, then old Punksatawney Laurie will come out of her den of inequity will blog for six more weeks.