Hollywood Secrets: 'American Horror Story' uncovers shocking secret about Hotel Alexandria
Welcome to Hollywood Secrets -- a weekly video series uncovering Hollywood's best-kept secrets. Check back for new episodes every Tuesday!
With its glamorous beginnings and troubled past, Hotel Alexandria is the ultimate Hollywood secret.
The hotel, located on Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles, was beloved by stars in the 1920s. Major names like Charlie Chaplin, Gladys Brockwell and Mary Pickford could be seen hanging out at Hotel Alexandria on any given day.
Today, it has served as the backdrop for several movies and TV shows, like "American Horror Story." In fact, Season 5 of "AHS" revealed a startling secret about the hotel -- an entire wing that was sealed off in 1938.
Back in the 1930s, prominent businessman William Chick had a fully integrated wing onto the hotel (he ran a livery stable next to the hotel). After a rent dispute, the hotel's owner had Chick's wing barricaded with a brick wall.
There was just one problem -- Chick had never built stairs or an elevator to the guest rooms in his wing, meaning you can only exit and enter the wing through the hotel. Since then, the wing and its secrets have been closed off to everyone.
In the "American Horror Story" episode titled "Flicker," the horrors of the wing were recreated -- with a twist!
Rudolph Valentino, who was considered the Brad Pitt of his time and a Hotel Alexandria regular, and his wife are shown to be trapped in inside Chick's wing forever. Talk about creepy!
And if there were ghosts lurking in the wing, we wouldn't be surprised. Historian Craig Owens revealed that he had an eerie encounter of his own while taking photographs in the Rudolph Valentino suite.
"A bathroom door that had been wedged open suddenly slammed shut all by itself," said Owens.
While he can't confirm that it was a ghost, he did say that there was no cross-breeze present.
Check out the video above for more on Hotel Alexandria's haunted history, including its ties to the White House!
