Historic Morrison Hotel Building Made Famous by The Doors Goes Up in Flames in Downtown LA

Vehicles drive past the Morrison Hotel in Los Angeles on Dec. 21, 2004. Ric Francis/AP Photo

Flames broke out at a historic building occupied by homeless squatters in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday.

At around 11 a.m. local time, more than 100 firefighters responded to a fire that erupted on the top floor of the former Morrison Hotel, which inspired the rock group The Doors’ 1970 album of the same name.

The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) reported that it took firefighters nearly two hours to extinguish flames licking at the four-story structure, which has sat boarded up for more than a decade.

The department subsequently posted footage of the incident on Instagram, which showed heavy smoke and flames billowing from what appeared to be a corner unit on the top floor.

“While LAFD was arriving on scene, several dozen people self-evacuated the structure,” the department noted.

“As firefighters were making their way through the building, they located an additional three people on the third floor. They evacuated the people to safety via ground ladders.”

The now-shuttered Morrison Hotel had been used as a training site for the LAFD in recent years, which gave firefighters an advantage in quickly navigating the structure, the department said.

No injuries were reported, and the former hotel was the only building on the block to suffer damage.

“It sustained partial roof collapse and with the structural integrity in doubt, it was not safe for firefighters to make entry to fully extinguish the remaining pockets of fire,” the LAFD said.

Fire crews remained on the scene throughout the night to monitor for any flare-ups.

Since firefighters could not confirm the building’s fourth floor was safely evacuated before the fire, cadaver dogs will be deployed to search the structure for human remains once it is deemed safe, the department noted.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

The Morrison Hotel

The hotel was built in 1914 and went on to become a Los Angeles landmark decades later.

In 1969, music photographer Henry Diltz snapped an image of members of The Doors, including lead singer Jim Morrison, peering out from the hotel lobby with the “Morrison Hotel” sign overhead.

The picture was used as the cover art of the group’s fifth studio album, aptly dubbed “Morrison Hotel,” which was released in February 1970.

The building later operated as single-room occupancy housing before closing in 2008.

After plans to turn the property into a luxury hotel failed, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) bought the structure in December 2023, intending to transform it into an affordable housing development for low-income residents.

“AHF purchased the Morrison Hotel for $11.9 million earlier this month, saving it from demolition, and will create 111 low-income housing units at a cost of about $107,207 per unit while preserving a piece of rock and roll history,” the organization shared via Instagram on Dec. 19, 2023.

John Densmore, the drummer of The Doors, and Diltz assisted the AHF in announcing the new development.

At the time, Densmore said Morrison, who died in 1971 at the age of 27 from heart failure, would be pleased to know the former hotel would be used for affordable housing.

“Every city in the world has the same problem: The people who work in the city can’t afford to live in the city. The Morrison Hotel is now going to be the solution to that problem,” the musician said in a video shared by the AHF.

“On behalf of Jim and me, we’re very pleased about that and proud.”

In a statement posted online, Diltz said he was saddened by the news that the historic building had caught fire.

“It was a great old wooden building with many small rooms upstairs where transients and drinkers used to sleep it off on a cot for $2.50 a night,” the photographer wrote on Instagram on Friday.

“I think the beautiful front window with ‘Morrison Hotel’ in red letters was the best part of it… & So did The Doors!”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.