Hollywood, Los Angeles, California · Haunted hotel guide
The Hollywood Roosevelt: Haunted Rooms, Ghost Stories & Where to Stay in Los Angeles
Across from the TCL Chinese Theatre, surrounded by the stars of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, stands one of the most famous hotels in Los Angeles.
The Hollywood Roosevelt has seen nearly a century of movie history. Marilyn Monroe lived here. Montgomery Clift stayed here while making From Here to Eternity. The very first Academy Awards were held here. And according to decades of stories, some of Hollywood’s former residents may still be checking in. Guests and employees have reported unexplained voices, cold spots, phantom footsteps and apparitions. Two names appear again and again in the hotel’s paranormal lore: Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift. The Hollywood Roosevelt doesn’t need ghosts to be fascinating. But they certainly help.
Reported hauntings are folklore and guest accounts; a reservation does not guarantee a paranormal experience. Booking links open the named provider’s website. Read our affiliate disclosure.
Plan a stay at The Hollywood Roosevelt
Compare dates and room types on the official website. If a particular room or floor matters to your trip, confirm it directly, along with access arrangements and the full price, before booking.
The Hollywood Roosevelt at a glance
- Location
- Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
- The setting
- Historic luxury hotel — opened 1927
- Reported lore
- Marilyn Monroe, Montgomery Clift and other reported spirits
- Famous for
- Old Hollywood history, celebrity guests and legendary ghost stories
- Best fit
- Haunted getaways, Old Hollywood fans, history lovers and paranormal travelers
Hollywood Builds a Hotel for Hollywood
The Hollywood Roosevelt opened on May 15, 1927, at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard. This wasn’t just another Los Angeles hotel. Some of the biggest names in the emerging movie industry helped finance it, including Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Louis B. Mayer and Sid Grauman. The 12-story hotel quickly became a gathering place for Hollywood’s film community. Even its location was spectacular. The hotel stood directly across Hollywood Boulevard from Grauman’s Chinese Theatre—today’s TCL Chinese Theatre. Hollywood was transforming from a neighbourhood into the centre of the movie universe. And the Roosevelt was right in the middle of it.
The First Academy Awards Happened Here
Before the Oscars became a worldwide television spectacle, there was a dinner. On May 16, 1929, approximately 270 people gathered inside the Hollywood Roosevelt’s Blossom Room for the first Academy Awards. The ceremony lasted about 15 minutes. Tickets cost $5. Douglas Fairbanks presented the awards, and Wings received the award that would become known as Best Picture. There were no television cameras. No red-carpet fashion coverage. No millions of people watching around the world. Just Hollywood gathering inside a hotel ballroom to recognize its films. Almost a century later, the Blossom Ballroom is also associated with something rather different. Ghosts.
The Haunted Blossom Ballroom
Visitors and employees have reported unusual experiences in the historic ballroom. One of the longest-running stories involves a mysterious cold spot. The Los Angeles Times reported in 1995 that employees repeatedly experienced an unusually cold area inside the ballroom. Another apparition reportedly seen around the hotel is a man dressed in a tuxedo who appears anxious, as though waiting for someone. Other paranormal accounts describe figures moving through the ballroom or along its walkways. Of course, temperature variations inside a large historic building can have perfectly ordinary explanations. Air conditioning. Drafts. Old ventilation. Open doors.
But when the cold spot happens inside the room where Hollywood held its first Academy Awards… people are going to tell ghost stories. And the Roosevelt has plenty of them.
Marilyn Monroe Lived at the Roosevelt
Long before she became one of the most recognizable women in Hollywood history, Marilyn Monroe lived at the Hollywood Roosevelt. The hotel’s own historical timeline places her there in the early 1950s, first in the Tower and later in a room in the Resort Wing overlooking the Tropicana Pool. Early commercial photographs of Monroe were also taken around the hotel pool. Today, the hotel maintains a Marilyn connection through its accommodations and history. But one particular object became central to a much stranger story. A mirror.
Marilyn Monroe in the Mirror
For years, one of the Hollywood Roosevelt’s most famous ghost stories involved a full-length mirror associated with Marilyn Monroe. According to a 1995 Los Angeles Times account, a woman looking into the mirror reportedly saw the reflection of a blonde woman standing behind her. She turned around. Nobody was there. The mysterious figure was subsequently associated with Monroe. The story became one of Hollywood’s classic celebrity ghost tales. There’s an important wrinkle, though. A later LAist history of the hotel reported that a hotel representative dismissed the haunting claims and said the mirror was no longer at the hotel.
So don’t arrive expecting to conduct your own midnight experiment with Marilyn’s famous haunted mirror. But the legend remains deeply connected with the Roosevelt. And Marilyn isn’t the hotel’s only alleged celebrity ghost.
Room 928
If there’s one room paranormal enthusiasts associate with the Hollywood Roosevelt, it’s probably: Room 928. Actor Montgomery Clift stayed there for approximately three months while working on the 1953 film From Here to Eternity. Clift’s character, Robert E. Lee Prewitt, was a soldier and bugler. According to accounts of his stay, Clift would practice for the role while walking through the hotel’s ninth-floor hallway. Decades later… people began reporting hearing it again.
The Ghost of Montgomery Clift
The stories surrounding Room 928 are unusually persistent. Guests have reported voices and unexplained noises on the ninth floor. And some claim they’ve heard the unmistakable sound of a bugle. In 1990, the Los Angeles Times reported that hotel records confirmed Clift’s stay in Room 928 and that guests had complained during the night about loud activity coming from the room. Hotel security reportedly investigated. The room was empty. Another Los Angeles Times account later described reports of conversations, furniture moving in empty rooms and unusual activity around the ninth floor.
Other versions of the legend say guests have felt taps on their shoulders or encountered strange cold spots around Room 928. Does that mean Montgomery Clift is still walking the ninth floor? No. But there’s no question that the real Clift stayed there. And that makes Room 928 considerably more interesting than a haunted-room legend invented without any historical connection.
Imagine Hearing the Bugle
This may be one of our favourite haunted-hotel scenarios. You’re asleep. It’s 2:30 in the morning. Then somewhere outside your room… a bugle starts playing. You open the door. Empty hallway. You look left. Nothing. Right. Nothing. Then you remember that Montgomery Clift spent months walking these same corridors while preparing to play a bugler. We’re closing the door. Investigation over.
A Little Girl Named Caroline
Not every Roosevelt ghost is a Hollywood celebrity. Another recurring legend concerns a young girl generally called Caroline. Stories describe a little girl in a blue dress appearing around the hotel, sometimes apparently looking for her mother. Unlike Montgomery Clift and Marilyn Monroe, however, Caroline doesn’t have the same documented historical connection to the Roosevelt. She’s primarily a figure of paranormal folklore. The Los Angeles Times has included the little girl among the hotel’s reported apparitions, describing her as a child seen in the lobby. Who was she? Was there ever a Caroline? That’s much harder to establish.
And that’s exactly where we draw the line between documented hotel history and ghost lore.
The Man in the Tuxedo
Then there’s the gentleman who apparently dressed for the occasion. Reports have circulated about an unidentified male apparition wearing a tuxedo. The figure has been described as appearing uneasy or anxious—as though waiting for someone who never arrived. There’s something particularly fitting about this story. This was Hollywood’s social headquarters. Movie stars attended premieres and parties here. The first Academy Awards took place in the ballroom. A tuxedo-clad man standing around waiting for somebody would once have been completely ordinary. Until he disappeared.
Hollywood Royalty Checked In
Even without paranormal stories, the Roosevelt’s guest history is remarkable. Marilyn Monroe lived here. Montgomery Clift lived here while making From Here to Eternity. Clark Gable and Carole Lombard are associated with the hotel’s penthouse. Shirley Temple has a connection with the hotel’s staircase, where Bill “Bojangles” Robinson reportedly taught her his stair dance. The hotel’s official history also identifies Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks among its original investors. The Academy Museum describes the Roosevelt as both a long-term residence for Hollywood stars and a hotel whose lore includes reports of ghosts walking its halls.
When a building has hosted that much Hollywood history, legends are almost inevitable.
Carole Lombard on the 12th Floor
Another celebrity sometimes added to the Roosevelt’s supernatural guest list is Carole Lombard. Lombard and Clark Gable are historically connected with the hotel, and the Roosevelt still has a Gable & Lombard Penthouse. Paranormal accounts have claimed that Lombard’s apparition has been spotted on the hotel’s 12th floor. Again, there’s a difference between the two claims: Gable and Lombard’s association with the hotel is historical. Lombard continuing to wander the 12th floor is folklore. That’s an important distinction in any historic haunting. A real person staying somewhere doesn’t prove that person’s ghost remained behind.
It does, however, give the legend a real historical anchor.
Strange Calls and Unexplained Activity
Not every reported experience involves seeing a full apparition. The Roosevelt has also accumulated stories involving: unexplained phone calls, voices, cold spots, objects or furniture apparently moving, strange sounds, and the feeling that someone is nearby when nobody is visible. Some paranormal accounts also describe photographic anomalies and shadowy figures. None of these phenomena are unique to haunted hotels. Old buildings make noise. Plumbing knocks. Air-conditioning systems create temperature differences. Hotel corridors carry sound surprisingly well. And tired travellers can misinterpret things—especially when they’ve already been told they’re sleeping inside one of Hollywood’s most haunted hotels.
But that doesn’t make the stories any less fun to investigate.
The Tropicana Pool Has Its Own History
Eventually you’ll need a break from ghosts. Go downstairs. The Roosevelt’s Tropicana Pool is itself a piece of Los Angeles history. The Resort Wing and pool opened in 1950, and the area quickly became a backdrop for Hollywood publicity photographs. Then something extraordinary happened. In 1988, British artist David Hockney painted the bottom of the pool. His distinctive design remains part of the Roosevelt today. So even the swimming pool has an artistic pedigree. And given Marilyn Monroe’s connection with the pool area, paranormal stories have naturally followed that part of the property too.
A Hotel That Almost Lost Its Glamour
The Roosevelt hasn’t spent its entire existence frozen in Hollywood’s Golden Age. Like Hollywood itself, it went through periods of decline and reinvention. Historic Hotels of America records a major restoration after Radisson acquired the property, with tens of millions of dollars invested in bringing back elements of the hotel’s historic appearance. The property later underwent additional renovations while preserving many of its signature spaces. Today, the Roosevelt isn’t a dusty relic surviving on ghost stories. It’s an active luxury hotel. People come for the pool. The restaurants and bars. The Hollywood location. The architecture. The history. And yes…
some come hoping Montgomery Clift starts playing the bugle.
Is the Hollywood Roosevelt Actually Haunted?
There’s no scientific evidence establishing that Marilyn Monroe appears in mirrors or Montgomery Clift walks the ninth floor. But the Roosevelt is interesting because so many of its legends overlap with real, documented Hollywood history. Montgomery Clift really stayed in Room 928. Marilyn Monroe really lived at the hotel. The first Academy Awards really happened in the Blossom Room. Clark Gable and Carole Lombard really are part of the hotel’s history. Those are facts. The ghost stories came afterward. And they’ve been circulating for decades—long enough that newspapers were reporting Roosevelt hauntings at least as far back as 1990.
That doesn’t prove the ghosts. But it does show these aren’t stories invented yesterday for social media.
Can You Stay at the Hollywood Roosevelt?
Absolutely. That’s precisely why it belongs in our haunted-hotel series. The Hollywood Roosevelt remains an operating hotel at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, directly across from the TCL Chinese Theatre and on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Hollywood Roosevelt official website The hotel currently has more than 300 rooms along with restaurants, bars, the Tropicana Pool and its restored Cinegrill theater. And unlike visiting an abandoned haunted building… you can actually sleep here.
Ready to Stay at The Hollywood Roosevelt
Spend the night in the heart of Old Hollywood and see whether the Roosevelt feels quite as glamorous after dark.
Which Room Should a Ghost Hunter Want?
If your goal is purely paranormal, there’s an obvious answer. Room 928. That’s the room most strongly associated with Montgomery Clift and one of the most specific haunting legends at the Roosevelt. But availability and room numbering can change, and a hotel isn’t obligated to guarantee a particular room simply because ghost hunters want it. So if you’re booking specifically for the paranormal history, contact the hotel and ask what can currently be requested. Otherwise, staying anywhere in the historic Tower still puts you inside the building where almost a century of Hollywood history unfolded.
Make It a Haunted Hollywood Trip
The Roosevelt has one enormous advantage over many haunted hotels: Look where it is. Step outside and you’re on Hollywood Boulevard. The TCL Chinese Theatre is across the street. The Hollywood Walk of Fame surrounds you. And Los Angeles has enough strange Hollywood history to fill an entire paranormal trip. Spend the day exploring old Hollywood. Return to the Roosevelt after dark. Walk through the lobby. See the Blossom Ballroom if accessible. Head upstairs. Then listen. A door closing? Someone talking? A television? Normal hotel noises. Probably. But if you hear a lone bugle echoing along the ninth floor…
you already know who’s supposed to be playing it.
Why Go Ghostly
Some haunted hotels are fascinating because of tragedy. Others because of architecture. The Hollywood Roosevelt has something different: Hollywood mythology. The people associated with its ghost stories aren’t anonymous figures from centuries ago. They’re some of the most recognizable names in American entertainment history. Marilyn Monroe. Montgomery Clift. Carole Lombard. Then there’s Caroline, the mysterious little girl. The tuxedoed man. The cold spot in the Blossom Ballroom. And decades of guests reporting things they couldn’t explain. Maybe every story has an ordinary explanation.
Maybe Hollywood has simply spent so long creating legends that eventually it created some about its own hotel. Or maybe… when the premieres ended, the lights dimmed and old Hollywood disappeared… a few people decided they weren’t ready to leave. The Hollywood Roosevelt isn’t simply a place to read about Hollywood ghosts. It’s one of the rare places where you can check in and spend the night with them. The Hollywood Roosevelt is also featured in our guide to 15 Haunted Hotels You Can Actually Stay In.
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