The Doors' "Morrison Hotel" becoming affordable housing in Los Angeles

CBS News Los Angeles

The iconic Morrison Hotel, made famous after it was the Doors' album cover in 1970, is set to become affordable housing in downtown Los Angeles.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 04: A view of the re-created Morrison Hotel facade during the Day of the Doors pop up event at The Original Morrison Hotel at 1246 South Hope Street on January 04, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. / Getty Images

The hotel was bought by AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) for $11.9 million at the beginning of December, according to the release. AHF plans to convert the building into 111 housing units at a cost of about $107,207 per unit.

The Doors drummer John Densmore and legendary rock photographer Henry Diltz helped Healthy Housing Foundation (HHF), a division of AHF, make the announcement on Tuesday.

The property was slated to become an upscale 444-room hotel with 136 luxury residential units before the developer defaulted on a $13.2 million loan over the summer after gutting the interior, the release said.

The historic rock hotel will be one of Healthy Housing Foundation's 15 properties in Los Angeles. HHF was launched back in 2017 to address the affordable housing crisis by converting older properties into useful spaces to help get people off the streets quicker.

Amy Maetzold

Amy Maetzold is a digital producer at KCAL News. She started her journalism career in Wisconsin where she was a producer at NBC15 and Spectrum News 1. Before coming to KCAL, Amy covered news in Santa Barbara at KEYT, winning a group Emmy Award for team coverage on the Alisal Fire.