Hotel del Coronado, San Diego

 For as long as my memory serves me my family and I have been visiting the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego California. We even had the amazing opportunity to stay here on more than one occasion. Nowadays, it's over $500 dollars a night to stay in this marvel of a hotel.

Getting down to brass tacks, the Hotel Del Coronado is an architectural masterpiece. In 1888, the Del first opened it's doors to the public. Since then, it's been one of the main features in California as an example of Victorian Beauty and Higher Society. Many Golden Era Hollywood elite have spent the night here, overlooking the beautiful coastline. Actors and Actresses of the Silver Screen have made this Hotel a place of desire, and the gem of California lifestyle. Even 15 US Presidents have rested their heads in the Hotel.

The Hotel is Seven Stories tall, boasting 680 rooms, the first hotel ever to feature electric lighting. Mr. Thomas Edison himself oversaw the complete installation of the Del.

The Ghosts: Kate Morgan; The most notable of spectres to grace the halls of the Hotel. She checked in and never left. The amazing thing is after taking her own life in 1892.. This was the talk of the tabloids.

Notes: People have felt cold spots, poltergeist activity, lights turning on and off on their own accord. There have even been reports in her room #304; then called room #3318 of depressions in the bed. People have said that she will even crawl into bed with guests when they stay in her room. Thrillseekers from all over the world can stay in her haunted room, and spend the night with her apparition. One woman said she was checking the room next to her room and saw a Victorian Dressed Young woman entering the room at the same time, they even made eye contact.

The Hotel Del Coronado at the end of it all will not disappoint, it's absolutely amazing.

Castle Green, Pasadena, Ca, Part 2

If your interested in knowing more about the incredible "Castle Green", please check out my part 1 in a previous blog post below. Thank you for following, and your interest in my blog. -Jason

Redwood Bar & Grill, Downtown Los Angeles

    Face appearing in an empty booth when shooting into a mirror directly behind me. Creepy stuff.

Photos taken with the flash within seconds of one another. Note the Hand-like shape appearing screen left of the images. Although, I don't like using orbs as a frame of reference for spirit manifestations, this was seen while taking the photo. I have never had such an uneasy feeling while taking photos in any location.

Just recently, I had the opportunity to visit this bar location in downtown Los Angeles for a bachelor party. I had no idea it was haunted, but my girlfriend and I were creeped out right when we walked in. Dimly lit booths, and dark shadowy corners fill the bar throughout. From the entrance to the back area, I felt cold spots, and drafty spots all around. I usually carry my camera, but this time I was stuck with my iPhone camera. I did have a chance to shoot some shots in and around the interior. When I went back and reviewed my images, I noticed a ghostly face in an empty booth; as well as a moving apparition in the back room. This place is creepy cool!

 Apparently this location is over 60+ years old. Formerly called The Old Redwood Saloon.

Taken from a couple articles:

"At the foot of Bunker Hill, the newly refurbished and re-themed Redwood Bar and Grill opened its doors to a world vastly different than what its former Los Angeles Times regulars will remember as the old Redwood Saloon....Gangster Mickey Cohen and former presidents Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy reputedly counted among the old Redwood Saloon's many patrons. But new owner Dev Dugal, who took over after a previous regime closed the spot at 316 W. Second St. last year, wanted to evoke an even more bygone era with the Redwood Bar and Grill."-LA Times

"Located near the L.A. Times building, the Redwood has hosted lawyers, bail bondsmen, politicians like Bobby Kennedy and Richard Nixon, and, not surprisingly, hundreds of journalists.
So many L.A. Times reporters frequented the bar that, for several years, the Times paid for a direct phone line to the Redwood. And that bright red phone still hangs on the wall by the door at the Redwood. "It was installed by the L.A. Times so they could call across to here to get a hold of a reporter or photographer — because they were in here so often. Up until a couple of years ago, it was still live," Bartlett says, "It even has an extension number on it."
These days the Redwood has a charming nautical theme, and they keep the lights dim enough that it's easy to imagine an apparition sitting in one of their high-topped booths. And Bartlett has plenty of paranormal stories to tell in his book, too. Like the "tall man in the gray suit" who lurks in the Redwood's basement, or unnatural shifts in light and shadow."- Robert Garrova, Gourmet Ghosts

The Cosmopolitan Hotel, Old Town San Diego, Ca

"The Cosmopolitan’s history goes back to a man named Juan Lorenzo Bandini, one of San Diego’s pioneers who settled here in the 1800s and a colorful and important player in San Diego's early development. He designed and constructed his grand residence, the largest in Old Town at the time, between 1827 and 1829. The single-story home was built around False Bay, later named Mission Bay circa 1944.

Bandini’s goal for the home was to make sure his wife and two daughters were most comfortable. The home had seven rooms, an entrance hall, an enclosed courtyard, a corral, and several sheds and barns. It was designed with Spanish Colonial architectural features such as thick adobe walls, muslin ceilings, pane-glass windows, and a brick-lined patio. The Bandinis lived in their home until 1859.

After Bandini’s death, Emily and Albert Seeley, a stage master, took over the building to create a place where travelers could have comfort, style and entertainment at the same time. In the fall of 1869, they celebrated the grand opening of The Cosmopolitan Hotel, having added a second level to the adobe structure. The architectural theme was Greek Revival. Some of the amenities of The Cosmopolitan Hotel were a bar, sitting and billiards room, a barber shop, and a local post office. The hotel’s main attraction was its grand balcony that wrapped around the second story, where guests to San Diego enjoyed seeing the crowd and activities in the town square below.

The 1870s brought fires to Old Town and growth in other areas of San Diego. In 1888 Seeley sold The Cosmopolitan; the building became a canning facility for an olive factory in 1900. Throughout the years the building lost its value, due to lack of maintenance. Fortunately, in 1928 Cave J. Couts Jr. took over the property. A grandson of Bandini, Couts turned the broken-down building into a hotel and restaurant with added amenities such as wired electricity, gas, and a new style of decor."-Cosmopolitan Hotel Website

The Ghost(s): "There's residual haunting, there's intelligent haunting, and there are also objects that are apparently haunted.-Zak Baggins, Ghost Adventures.

There are reports of full-bodied apparitions, objects being moved/placed in different areas, and class A Electronic Voice Phenomena. Apparently room #11 is one of the most haunted rooms in the hotel. Although people have reported seeing phantom specters throughout the building and the grounds.

 

Angels Flight, Downtown Los Angeles

Opened in 1901, Angels Flight was used to carry the wealthy neighborhood locals up and down the steep incline (of roughly 33%) of Bunker Hill for the price of one cent. Its patrons found it much easier to make it back up from the business district at the bottom, to the ornate Victorian homes at the top using the railway. The two cars, named Sinai and Olivet (biblical references, perhaps to Mount Sinai and Mount Olivet), counterbalance each other – as one travels down the tracks, the other moves parallel going up.-Couple of Travels

At its turn-of-the-century opening, the bustling Bunker Hill neighborhood clearly enjoyed the convenient transportation – Angels Flight was ridden 2,000 times on opening day alone!
After 27 years in storage, the funicular was rebuilt and reopened on February 24, 1996 a half block south of the original site.

 Although the original cars, Sinai and Olivet, were used, a new track and haulage system was designed and built, a redesign which had unfortunate consequences five years later. As rebuilt, the funicular was 91 meters (298 feet) long on an approximately 33-percent incline. Car movement was controlled by an operator inside the upper station house, who was responsible for visually determining that the track and vehicles were clear for movement, closing the platform gates, starting the cars moving, monitoring the operation of the funicular cars, observing car stops at both stations, and collecting fares from passengers. The cars themselves did not carry any staff members.

 A sailor was killed on August 31, 1945 when he attempted to walk up the tracks while the line was in operation. He was struck by one car and then crushed by the other.

On February 1, 2001, Angels Flight had a serious accident that killed a passenger, Leon Praport age 83, and injured seven others, including Praport's wife, Lola. The accident occurred when car Sinai, approaching the upper station, reversed direction and accelerated downhill in an uncontrolled fashion to strike car Olivet near the lower terminus.

Apparently, riders of this amazing piece of history claim that Olivet car is haunted by the crushed Sailor as well as the 83 year old passenger from 2001. They show themselves as an apparitions to guests of this historical landmark.