HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Koreatown's 1920s nautical bar built over a former city dump — where a lobby restroom mirror shows a face that isn't yours
3357 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90010
Research updated June 2026
Age
21+
Cost
$
Bar; drinks by standard bar pricing
Access
Wheelchair OK
Ground-floor bar within the Gaylord Apartments building
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1924 · 1920s Wilshire Boulevard Corridor residential construction · Long-operating nautical-themed dive bar · Gaylord Apartments landmark building
The Gaylord Apartments opened in the 1920s as part of the Wilshire Boulevard Corridor's first wave of upscale residential construction. The building at 3357 Wilshire Blvd is a substantial structure that still functions as an apartment complex, with H.M.S. Bounty operating as its ground-floor bar — a nautical-themed dive that has served the surrounding neighborhood for decades.
The land itself carries a darker reputation. Discover Los Angeles and local history sources note that the property was previously occupied by a city dump, one that reportedly received bodies of murder victims during a period when L.A.'s law enforcement apparatus was less attentive to where certain deaths ended up. How well-documented this claim is in primary municipal records is unclear; it appears consistently in local haunted-history accounts rather than in formal historical scholarship.
The Gaylord building's combination of age, location, and the underlying land history has made it a recurring address in Los Angeles paranormal circles. The bar itself is a classic dive by any measure — unchanged in atmosphere for decades — which contributes to the sense of temporal dislocation that characterizes visitor accounts of the place.
Sources
The paranormal accounts at H.M.S. Bounty and the Gaylord Apartments are more varied than most bar hauntings. Apartment tenants above the bar have reported unexplained knocking on windows and the sound of footsteps in hallways with no corresponding occupant.
The most frequently repeated account centers on the lobby restroom: women using the ladies' room have reported feeling an invisible hand pressing against them, and at least some have seen a man's reflection in the mirror that vanishes when they turn to look. The reflection report is distinctive enough that it appears across multiple sources covering LA's haunted bars.
Ghost Hunters of Urban LA (GHOULA) has documented the H.M.S. Bounty as a site of interest. The attribution for the phenomena varies — some accounts point to the dump-and-murder-victim history of the land beneath the building, others to the building's 1920s vintage and the density of history the Wilshire Corridor has accumulated over a century. No single tragic event is pinned as the cause.
Sit in the wood-paneled bar of the Gaylord Apartments, a Wilshire Corridor landmark from the 1920s. The bar's nautical decor has been largely intact for decades. The lobby ladies' restroom and apartment hallways are where most reported phenomena occur.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Los Angeles, CA
Philippe Mathieu opened his restaurant in 1908 on Alameda Street, next to what was then the edge of LA's Chinatown district. The building's upper floors reportedly served a more discreet clientele before the restaurant expanded into them. Ownership transferred through several hands, most recently to the Quon family, who ran it for decades before selling in 2001.
Los Angeles, CA
The King Edward Hotel opened in 1906 in the Skid Row-adjacent Historic Core, and its ground-floor saloon became one of the city's most persistent neighborhood bars. During Prohibition, the operation continued via underground tunnels connecting the building to the surrounding block — a documented feature of several downtown LA hotel basements from that era. The bar survived the 20th century's cycles of downtown decline and tentative revival.
Santa Monica, CA
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