Jim Morrison’s Bedroom Shrine

Fans of The Doors created an unofficial – and sometimes unsettling – interactive shrine to their deceased vocalist, Jim Morrison.

Kate Cherrell

November 7, 2024

3–4 minutes

Curiosities, Death, History, Jim morrison, memorials, the doors

Not all memorials are polished marble graves, plaques and paintings, others are organically created, where friends, fans and family seek to preserve a tangible link to the deceased. In the same way that many would weep while touching Michael Jackson’s glove or Elvis’ Blue Suede Shoes, fans of the 70s rock band, The Doors, have created an unofficial – and sometimes unsettling – interactive shrine to their deceased vocalist, Jim Morrison.

[Images via Tripadvisor – Emily K and Wikimedia Commons – Gustavo Gerdel]

Jim Morrison’s love life was as tumultuous as the rest of the ‘Lizard King’s existence, and his relationships burned brightly and fiercely within the public eye. Pamela Courson was Jim Morrison’s long-term girlfriend, and the two remained together until Morrison’s death in Paris in 1971. The pair had a passionate on-again, off-again open relationship, and although the pair were devoted to one another in their own way, they were never going to end their days surrounded by a white, picket fence.

Jim and Pamela lived in an apartment at 8216 ½ Norton Ave, but when all was not butterflies and rainbows, Jim had a backup plan. Between 1968-1970, Jim would periodically stay in room 32 of the Alta Cienega Motel in West Hollywood.

The motel was perfectly placed for recording sessions for ‘L.A. Woman’ at the studio on Santa Monica Boulevard, and for Jim to collapse and unwind after another night heavily drinking at the infamous bar, Barney’s Beanery, which was located just 100m away.

[Images via Wikimedia Commons and WEHO News]

Following Morrison’s untimely death at the age of 27, room 32 of the motel became a ready-made shrine for American fans who mourned the death of their idol, thousands of miles away in a Parisian bathroom. Room 32 is regarded as the last place that Jim stayed before moving to France, so is understandably seen as the last tangible link to the singer. The motel owners ultimately opened their doors to Jim’s fans, who reappropriated the room’s purpose, filling its walls with scrawled messages of love, loss and remembrance. The shrine remained in use for decades, both as a place of memorial, and as a rentable room. Fans were encouraged to visit and leave a message, adding an interactive graffiti thrill to an otherwise unremarkable and grubby motel. Apparently, the Alta Cienaga would charge anything from $70-$160[1] to stay the night, and offered a visitor’s fee (if you just wanted to see the room) of a dollar a minute!

Regarded as a profound pilgrimage site for fans of The Doors, the mundane room was transformed into a psychedelic mass of scribbles and lyrics, becoming a sitting, grimy memorial to Morrison’s musical and poetic legacy (for a man who reportedly wore the same pair of trousers for two-solid-years, grimy seems very appropriate). While Jim’s room may well have made for a profound fan visit, as a holiday destination, it was far less pleasant. One TripAdvisor review reads ‘Booked the Jim Morrison room. it is gross. Seriously, it almost made us vomit. This is not a knock against Jim Morrison, someone who I had great respect for. But Room 32 is awful. My wife and I luckily were able to get our money back and find another LA motel. The staff was nice though.’

However, sadly, all good things must come to an end, and in 2021, the motel was closed and up for sale to the highest bidder. And, being prime California real estate, the likelihood of his room re-opening is minuscule, if not completely impossible.

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