Wine is an important symbol of the blood of Christ for Catholics and many Christian denominations. According to my very protective, but wonderful teachers, this was yet “more proof” that the song was about a Satanic cult. The mentioned lyric is a reply to a request for wine, in the song. Reference was made to the lyric, “we haven’t had that spirit here since 1969,” as meaning the Spirit of Christ had not been present since 1969 upon organization of the cult. Music by the Eagles was not allowed due to the “fact” that the song Hotel California was about a Satanic Cult organized in California in the year 1969. My fellow high schoolmates and I (class of ’85) were warned of the “evils” of certain types of music and were not allowed to play anything that was not approved by the nuns, at our school dances. I’ve looked, and though it is fuzzy… damned if it doesn’t look like him. It’s even been said that if you look on the album cover, you can see Satanic High Preist Anton LeVey in one of the windows. I remember hearing as a kid that the Eagle’s megaplatinum song “Hotel California” was about Aleister Crowley’s mansion near Loch Ness, and the weird goings-on that supposedly happened there including such “clues” as the line “…they stab it with their steely knives, but they just can’t kill The Beast” (Crowley’s nickname). Further rumors have it that the Eagles are Satan worshippers, and that Satan appears in the window on the “Hotel California” album jacket. For some unknown reason, it became known as the “Hotel of California”. The basic premise is that the song is about a Christian church that was abandoned (or otherwise vacated) in 1969, and was taken over by an occultic group (usually Satan worshippers). There is no mystery about the cover photo.There’s a rumor that’s been around for some time concerning the Eagles’ song “Hotel California”. Leave a comment below if you are or know anyone in the photo.
Next mission is to start identifying all the people in this photo. The mythology and mystery of album cover photos is one of my favorite topics here on. This would have been her view looking down at the gathering. Here is a EXCLUSIVE photo I took from where the mystery woman would have been standing. Most reports simply claim that the shadowy figure was a woman hired for the photo shoot (anyone know her?).
I assume he must have been a benign spirit as Hotel California went platinum immediately (and then some!).” “Nobody knows what the sinister figure lurking in the balcony window is doing – or who he is. Many who look at that photo claim this person was Anton LaVey, the then leader of the Church of Satan.Īrt director Kosh, when asked about the mystery “ghost”: The song “Hotel California” has inspired a number of conjectural song interpretations ranging from hedonistic to satanic or speaking about heroin addiction and even cannibalism. Either way, growing up I was always freaked out by the photo and the ghostly figure that appears on the balcony above the lobby. I recently took the time to stop by and get some photos of the famous lobby that still almost looks the same as it did in 1976. The Lido Hotel was recently converted to apartments and has been rebranded The Lido Apts. Our combined rock ‘n’ roll friends were all invited.” This was shot inside a cleverly re-decorated flop house, called The Lido, in Hollywood by David Alexander. “Next we organized the gatefold spread – a photo of the band surrounded by friends in the hotel lobby.
“I wanted a collection of people from all walks of life, It’s people on the edge, on the fringes of society.” – Don HenleyĪrt director Kosh, said about the photoshoot: Henley wanted an image of California as the greatest melting pot in the country. The back cover photo was not shot in The Beverly Hills Hotel lobby but rather in the lobby of the much lower budget Lido Hotel on the corner of Yucca Street & Wilcox Avenue in Hollywood, California.Īs was the famously eerie gatefold photo of Eagles Don Felder, Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Randy Meisner & Joe Walsh surrounded by friends (none of which have been identified). The back cover of the album shows the empty lobby of a hotel with one lone figure sweeping up the floor. We previously wrote all the details about the classic album cover photoshoot at The Beverly Hills Hotel. Neither the front, back or gatefold photos used on The Eagles album “Hotel California” were photographed at an actual hotel named California.