Saved from demolition, historic rock and roll landmark building will get new life as 111 units of low-income housing

The Doors' drummer John Densmore and legendary rock photographer Henry Diltz joined Healthy Housing Foundation (HHF), a division of AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), on Tuesday afternoon to celebrate AHF’s acquisition of the historic Morrison Hotel, a 1914 Single Room Occupancy (SRO) building in downtown Los Angeles. The Doors and photographer Henry Diltz made the Morrison Hotel famous with their iconic album cover shot released in 1970.

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John Densmore, drummer for The Doors, and photographer Henry Diltz share Morrison Hotel memorabilia during a ceremony celebrating AHF’s acquisition of the historic Morrison, a 1914 Single Room Occupancy (SRO) building in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday, December 19, 2023. The Doors and photographer Henry Diltz made the Morrison famous with the band’s release of its landmark 1970 album featuring Diltz’s iconic cover photo. AHF purchased the gutted building for its Healthy Housing Foundation, saving the Morrison from demolition and, via adaptive reuse, will now convert it into 111 units of low-income housing for people in need. (Photo: Business Wire)

“Jim Morrison would be very pleased to know that the site of the cover of our fifth album, Morrison Hotel, is now going to be the site of affordable housing,” said Densmore. “The people who work in the city can’t afford to live in the city, so the Morrison Hotel is now going to be a solution to that problem. On behalf of Jim and me, we’re very pleased about that and proud.”

“After doing a couple hundred album covers in the past 50 some years, this is the one that everybody knows,” said Diltz, as he then told the story of how the cover shot came to be.

“It was almost accidental, this whole thing,” he continued, explaining how the young guy in the lobby wouldn’t let the band pose inside. But once outside, Diltz saw the elevator light go on through the window, realized the guy had left the desk, and told the band to run inside. “It took five minutes,” Diltz added. “One roll of film.”

After speaking, Densmore and Diltz posed for pictures with two versions of the famous image.

“That was a great day, wasn’t it?” Diltz asked Densmore as he held up an original print.

“It was,” Densmore replied, holding the album cover. “The best.”

“I remember that day so well,” Diltz added. “What fun. What fun.”

AHF purchased the Morrison Hotel for $11.9 million earlier this month, saving it from demolition, and will create 111 housing units at a cost of about $107,207 per unit while preserving a piece of rock and roll history.

Most recently, the property was slated for upscale redevelopment as a swank 444-room hotel with 136 luxury residential units on this and adjacent land parcels. However, real estate industry publication The Real Deal reported that Relevant Group, the developer, defaulted on a $13.2 million loan on the property over the summer after gutting the interior.

Susie Shannon, Policy Director, Housing Is A Human Right; Dominique Eastman, Associate Director of Housing, Healthy Housing Foundation; and Robert Fields, Housing Manager, Healthy Housing Foundation, rounded out the speaking program while acoustic guitarist David Reeves played classic The Doors songs to set the mood.

AHF launched Healthy Housing Foundation in 2017 to address the rampant affordable housing crisis, and the Morrison Hotel is one of 15 HHF properties in Los Angeles (one of 19 nationwide) being converted into affordable housing via adaptive reuse, a much faster, much less expensive way of getting people off the streets.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the world’s largest HIV/AIDS healthcare organization, provides cutting-edge medicine and advocacy to more than 1.9 million individuals across 45 countries, including the U.S. and in Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region, and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, visit us online at AIDShealth.org, find us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, and subscribe to our AHFter Hours podcast.

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The Doors' drummer John Densmore & legendary rock photographer Henry Diltz joined AHF's Healthy Housing Foundation to celebrate AHF’s acquisition of the historic Morrison Hotel, a 1914 SRO hotel that AHF will restore, creating 111 affordable housing units.