For this Page Place it's time to head back to L.A. and visit one of the most, if not the most rock and roll hotel in existence, The Continental Hyatt House, known better as the infamous "Riot House".
The Continental Hyatt House, located on the Sunset Strip, opened it's doors in 1963 as the Gene Autry Hotel, It was sold three years later to Hyatt who re-named it. Since then the hotel has gone through a bevy of names, in 1976 it was changed to Hyatt on Sunset until 1997, when it was renamed again to the Hyatt West Hollywood. Since then the hotel has been completely renovated, and given the name Andaz West Hollywood which is what it is referred to as today.
The hotel's proximity to all of the popular nightclubs around Hollywood made it a prime destination for visiting rock and roll acts. The Rolling Stones stayed at the hotel many times, and it is said Keith Richards threw a television out of the window of room 1015. Richards wasn't the only one who liked to throw around TV's, Keith Moon, the drummer of The Who liked to completely demolish hotel rooms at the Riot House. The Doors frontman Jim Morrison actually lived at the hotel for a while until he decided to dangle from the window of his room and was quickly evicted. Little Richard was another a resident of the hotel, living in room 309 in the 1980's and 1990's.
The band settled into the Hyatt House numerous times on tours through America, using it as a base of operations. Some nights they'd fly to San Francisco or Seattle or Dallas, do a show, then fly back that night to party at the Riot House. As the band grew bigger in America, so did their debauchery, and grandeur, on one tour, the band rented six floors to use all for themselves. The following is an excerpt from the book "Whole Lotta Led: Our Flight With Led Zeppelin" that offers a portrait of life for the band at the Riot House:
"For the tour’s [Zeppelin's 1973 tour] final ten days Zeppelin used an entire floor at the Continental Hyatt House in L.A. as its base. Locals began calling it the “Riot House” because of all the zaniness that went on. Only [John Paul] Jones seemed to avoid the tour antics. Reports claim that he always insisted on his hotel suite being at least two floors away from the rest of the band. Having an entire floor was like having one big playground taken from the script of Animal House. It was crazy, it was mad. There were wheelchair races in the hallway. TVs were thrown out the window. Groupies were tied to the beds. “Coke Lady,” an aide employed solely for the purpose of passing out white powder to band members and crew, was kept busy. Bonham played his records very, very loud at three or four in the morning and somebody would go downstairs and complain. The hotel ended up moving the person who complained. It was just the idea that, “We can get away with anything because we’re Led Zeppelin.”
Here's a short video detailing some of Led Zeppelin's dalliances in the Riot House:
I visited the Riot House numerous times, the first being right before it underwent renovation, the second while the hotel was being renovated, and the third as Andaz. The third time was the most memorable for me. I was actually staying at a small hotel further up the strip, and decided to take a cruise in my car and look for trouble. I pulled up to Andaz, and let a valet take my car, and went into the hotel lobby which is just beautifully done. I had a few drinks and admired the scenery, then with a little courage, I followed a group of people into the elevators which you need a key to be able to use and ascended to the top floor.
The floor was empty of course, and I total felt out of place, and a little buzzed, but it was really cool to make it up onto the floors that I knew Led Zeppelin and practically ever other group of note in the 1970's stayed on. After walking up and down the hall, I hopped back on the elevator, rode down to the lobby, snuck out and headed over to the Whisky A Go-Go, just like Jimmy himself might have done, 35 years before. What a night!
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| Robert Plant on one of the "Riot House's" balconies in 1975 shouting the phrase "I am a Golden God!" |
The hotel's proximity to all of the popular nightclubs around Hollywood made it a prime destination for visiting rock and roll acts. The Rolling Stones stayed at the hotel many times, and it is said Keith Richards threw a television out of the window of room 1015. Richards wasn't the only one who liked to throw around TV's, Keith Moon, the drummer of The Who liked to completely demolish hotel rooms at the Riot House. The Doors frontman Jim Morrison actually lived at the hotel for a while until he decided to dangle from the window of his room and was quickly evicted. Little Richard was another a resident of the hotel, living in room 309 in the 1980's and 1990's.
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| The front of the Hotel as it appeared in the 1970's |
"For the tour’s [Zeppelin's 1973 tour] final ten days Zeppelin used an entire floor at the Continental Hyatt House in L.A. as its base. Locals began calling it the “Riot House” because of all the zaniness that went on. Only [John Paul] Jones seemed to avoid the tour antics. Reports claim that he always insisted on his hotel suite being at least two floors away from the rest of the band. Having an entire floor was like having one big playground taken from the script of Animal House. It was crazy, it was mad. There were wheelchair races in the hallway. TVs were thrown out the window. Groupies were tied to the beds. “Coke Lady,” an aide employed solely for the purpose of passing out white powder to band members and crew, was kept busy. Bonham played his records very, very loud at three or four in the morning and somebody would go downstairs and complain. The hotel ended up moving the person who complained. It was just the idea that, “We can get away with anything because we’re Led Zeppelin.”
Here's a short video detailing some of Led Zeppelin's dalliances in the Riot House:
I visited the Riot House numerous times, the first being right before it underwent renovation, the second while the hotel was being renovated, and the third as Andaz. The third time was the most memorable for me. I was actually staying at a small hotel further up the strip, and decided to take a cruise in my car and look for trouble. I pulled up to Andaz, and let a valet take my car, and went into the hotel lobby which is just beautifully done. I had a few drinks and admired the scenery, then with a little courage, I followed a group of people into the elevators which you need a key to be able to use and ascended to the top floor.
The floor was empty of course, and I total felt out of place, and a little buzzed, but it was really cool to make it up onto the floors that I knew Led Zeppelin and practically ever other group of note in the 1970's stayed on. After walking up and down the hall, I hopped back on the elevator, rode down to the lobby, snuck out and headed over to the Whisky A Go-Go, just like Jimmy himself might have done, 35 years before. What a night!
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| Here's me in front of the Riot House while it was under renovation |
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