Once Hollywood's elite gathering place — séances, starlet deaths, and D.W. Griffith's final hours within its walls
1714 Ivar Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
The building is now operated as senior housing and is not open to the public. Exterior viewing only from Ivar Avenue.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Residential street, curbside exterior viewing only.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1929 · Bess Houdini's final séance (1936) · Death of D.W. Griffith (1948) · Frances Farmer's arrest (1943) · Death of costume designer Irene Lentz Gibbons (1962) · Converted to senior housing 1973
The Knickerbocker Hotel opened in 1929 at the intersection of Ivar and Hollywood Boulevard, a few blocks from the studios and casting offices that defined Hollywood's golden-era geography. Its proximity to the industry made it a natural gathering place for film executives, actors, and the trades that served them. Cecil B. DeMille used the hotel as something close to a second office; other studio figures kept rooms there for weeks or months at a time.
On Halloween night 1936, Bess Houdini hosted a séance on the hotel's rooftop in front of approximately 300 witnesses, attempting to contact her late husband Harry Houdini. The séance — the tenth anniversary observance of Houdini's death — was the last she formally conducted. After waiting the agreed-upon signal without result, she closed the session, reportedly saying 'Houdini never came through.' She abandoned further attempts afterward.
Director D.W. Griffith, whose 1915 film Birth of a Nation remains one of cinema's most historically significant and morally contested works, died of a cerebral hemorrhage in his room at the Knickerbocker on July 23, 1948. He had been living in the hotel in relative poverty and obscurity in his final years.
In November 1943, actress Frances Farmer was arrested at the hotel bar following a series of altercations with studio police. The circumstances of her arrest — violent, publicly witnessed, and covered in the press — marked the beginning of a period of institutionalization that would become the most documented case of Hollywood-era psychiatric commitment.
Costume designer Irene Lentz Gibbons, who dressed stars including Grace Kelly and Doris Day, died in the hotel in November 1962 after falling from a window. She had slashed her wrists beforehand; the incident was ruled a suicide. The building was converted to senior residential housing in 1973 and no longer operates as a hotel.
Sources
The Knickerbocker accumulated enough documented deaths and dramatic incidents in its three operating decades to give its haunting traditions a clear historical grounding. The building is not publicly accessible — it operates as senior housing — so current staff reports are not available through normal ghost tourism channels. The paranormal accounts come primarily from the hotel's operational period and from researchers who documented them before the 1973 conversion.
D.W. Griffith's apparition is the most consistently reported figure: described as a tall man in period dress standing near the elevator banks or the front lobby. Griffith died in the hotel in 1948 after years as a resident; the specificity of the location matches the documented record.
Bess Houdini's 1936 séance on the roof occupies a different category — a historically documented paranormal event conducted by a named person at a verifiable date and location. Whether the séance succeeded is a matter of belief; that it happened in front of hundreds of witnesses is documented. The rooftop remains part of the building's upper floors, now inaccessible to tourists.
The death of Irene Lentz Gibbons in 1962 is noted in paranormal accounts but typically described with less specificity than the Griffith or Houdini associations. The method of her death is not dwelt upon in the oral tradition.
The building's senior residential status since 1973 means that any current paranormal investigation would require resident and management consent — a practical barrier that has kept the Knickerbocker largely out of the organized investigation circuit.
Notable Entities
The 1929 Hollywood Knickerbocker building stands at 1714 Ivar Avenue and can be viewed from the street. The building is now operated as senior residential housing and has no public access to the interior. Ghost tour operators include the Knickerbocker in broader Hollywood walking tour routes.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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