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Hyatt West Hollywood

The Hyatt West Hollywood is a 262-room Hyatt hotel located at 8401 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, California (at Kings Road).

It opened in 1958 as the Gene Autry Hotel. Sold in 1966, it was renamed the Continental Hyatt House.

In the late 1960s and 1970s the hotel became the preferred accommodation in Los Angeles for travelling rock bands, due largely to its close proximity to popular clubs such as the Whisky a Go Go. It was during this time that it was given the nickname Riot House on account of the wild antics carried out by band members there, most notably those of English rock groups such as Led Zeppelin, The Who and the Rolling Stones.

• Led Zeppelin rented as many as six floors of the hotel in the mid-to-late 1970s for the band members and entourage. Drummer John Bonham was reported to have driven a motorcycle along the hallways. In the film Rock Star, the character Izzy Cole does this.
• Room 1015 bears the distinction of being where Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards dropped a TV out the window. The Who's Keith Moon was also reported to have dropped a TV out of one of the hotel's windows. In the film Rock Star also, the character "A.C.", played by Jason Bonham, son of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, throws a T.V. off the window in rage, after he is told that his wife ran off with Peter Gabriel.
• Lemmy wrote the song "Motorhead" on one of the hotel balconies in the middle of the night, using Roy Wood's Ovation acoustic guitar.
• Scenes in the film Almost Famous which depict the hotel were filmed at the actual hotel. Parts of the hotel were refurbished with exactly the same decor as existed there in the 1970s.
• The scene from Almost Famous in which Russell Hammond cries out, "I am a Golden God!" is a reference to Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant who allegedly said the same thing while looking over Sunset Strip from one of the hotel's balconies in 1975.
• The end-of-tour party scene in the film This is Spinal Tap was filmed on the roof of the hotel.
• Little Richard lived at the hotel through much of the 1980s and 1990s
• Jim Morrison lived there until he was reportedly evicted by management for hanging out a window by his fingertips, dangling over the pavement.

Kurutz, Steven, "Rock 'n' Roll Hotels for a New Generation," The New York Times, July 9, 2006.

Fein, Art, (1998) The L.A. Musical History Tour: A Guide to the Rock and Roll Landmarks of Los Angeles, 2.13.61 Publications, ISBN 1-880985-57-8

• Hyatt West Hollywood
• Hyatt West Hollywood Human Rights Campaign Index