# Hotel California location update **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [December 2, 2013, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-california-location-update/675304 "2013-12-02T19:34:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hottius\_Maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hottius\_Maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hottius_Maximus)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-california-location-update/675304/21 "2013-12-11T00:51:36Z")
I’d like to tell you where it is, but I’m still here and they won’t let me out. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-california-location-update/675304/22 "2013-12-11T01:05:04Z")
> [@Hottius\_Maximus](#): > > I’d like to tell you where it is, but I’m still here and they won’t let me out. you can never leave ---
**Author:** ![Nisslbody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e36b37/32.png) [@Nisslbody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nisslbody)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-california-location-update/675304/23 "2013-12-11T05:19:41Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > The State had issued warnings about the time this album came out. Basically saying that if you travel along the Big Sur coast, to stay on the coast, don’t wander up into the hills. Seems there were some Satanic cults and Manson-wanna-bes causing grief for the rubber-neckers. I don’t know if that’s what Unca Cece’s talking about “(3) It’s about satanism. Isn’t everything?”. That’s where I’ve always thought Hotel California was. “The pitfalls of living in [pre-draught] southern [sic] California” makes sense to me, how could I have been so blind all these years. > > Cocaine addiction … B-O-G-U-S … you can leave anytime you want … but you’ll be paying that bill the rest of your life … you can never check out. Is this related to what you’re remembering? > **[Satan cultists and cannibals of 1970 behind mysterious murders where victims’...](https://www.nydailynews.com/2010/07/18/satan-cultists-and-cannibals-of-1970-behind-mysterious-murders-where-victims-hearts-missing/)** > > On June16, 1970, a hiker stumbled upon a shallow grave off a highway near El Cariso, in southern California. It held the body of Florence Nancy Brown, 29, a schoolteacher from El Toro who worked wi… ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-california-location-update/675304/24 "2013-12-11T07:02:13Z")
> [@Nisslbody](#): > > Is this related to what you’re remembering? > > [Satan cultists and cannibals of 1970 behind mysterious murders where victims’ hearts missing – New York Daily News](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/satan-cultists-cannibals-1970-behind-mysterious-murders-victims-hearts-missing-article-1.466793) If it is, then it certainly didn’t happen around the time the album came out in 1977. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-california-location-update/675304/25 "2013-12-11T07:09:04Z")
I’ve thought the song was about heroin. (“This could be Heaven or this could be Hell … Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way”) I’ve also wondered if the odd word “colitas” could help with an anagram to prove my conjecture. But if I ever got further than HOTEL + CALIFORNIA + S = HEROIN + COLITAS + FAL I disremember it. ---
**Author:** ![Hottius\_Maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hottius\_Maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hottius_Maximus)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-california-location-update/675304/26 "2013-12-11T13:21:38Z")
> [@rsat3acr](#): > > you can never leave True…but I did check out. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-california-location-update/675304/27 "2013-12-11T13:24:28Z")
> [@Hottius\_Maximus](#): > > I’d like to tell you where it is, but I’m still here and they won’t let me out. Are they letting you use Patty Hearst’s old room, or are you down in the Randall Woodfield wing? Say “hi” to Yul for me. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-california-location-update/675304/28 "2013-12-11T13:34:25Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > Are they letting you use Patty Hearst’s old room, or are you down in the Randall Woodfield wing? Say “hi” to Yul for me. Is the link in post #23 related to what you said in post #6? ---
**Author:** ![Nisslbody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e36b37/32.png) [@Nisslbody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nisslbody)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-california-location-update/675304/29 "2013-12-11T17:42:53Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > If it is, then it certainly didn’t happen around the time the album came out in 1977. Memories are funny things. There were actually a couple of well-publicized “satanic cult” murder clusters in that general area, one much later in 1990, but during the “Satanic Panic” era there was a lot of media fearmongering about not getting out of the car in remote areas, and I wonder if that may be what he’s remembering. The California coast was a hippie commune hotspot, and I also recall that during the media’s satanism frenzy in the early 80’s there was a lot of “there are Satanists in them thar woods” buzz. Almost entirely spurious, but many people still remember it. [http://www.people.vcu.edu/~dbromley/undergraduate/spiritualCommunity/SatanicCults.html](http://www.people.vcu.edu/~dbromley/undergraduate/spiritualCommunity/SatanicCults.html) ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-california-location-update/675304/30 "2013-12-11T20:00:10Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Is the link in post #23 related to what you said in post #6? I’d like a cite that you actually did any searching at all. Nisslbody found two links in twelve hours. You’ve been asking for a cite for four days. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-california-location-update/675304/31 "2013-12-11T20:11:48Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > I’d like a cite that you actually did any searching at all. Nisslbody found two links in twelve hours. You’ve been asking for a cite for four days. **Nisslbody** found two links…but neither link supported his claim of official California state warnings about going up into the hills coming out about the same time the album came out, which is what I was questioning. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-california-location-update/675304/32 "2013-12-11T21:20:32Z")
So … I googled “big sur warnings satan” and this was the #10 hit: Hotel California location update - Straight Dope Message Board [boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=16913592‎](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=16913592%E2%80%8E) Dec 2, 2013 - 12 posts - ‎8 authors The State had issued warnings about the time this album came out. Basically saying that if you travel along the Big Sur coast, to stay on the coast, don’t … Seems there were some Satanic cults and Manson-wanna-bes causing … Now, if you can’t believe Google, who can you believe? ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-california-location-update/675304/33 "2013-12-11T21:45:39Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > The album came out in 1976, I was hangin’ at Beserkley, dropin’ acid and reading Zap Comix. At 15 years old, my perceptions weren’t “a little later” but rather a little young. I have no idea what your talking about with “the hippy community was deteriorating from within long before Reagan came along.” Dude, Reagan was in his second term as governor in 1967. > > The song " … is about the pitfalls of living in southern [sic] California in the 1970s." I just trying to bring to the table that these were deep chasms in Northern California. As to the question of exactly where Hotel California is, I think due consideration should be made of placing it at Delos, about a quarter mile north of West World (like in the movie). Okay. Thanks for that. Just trying to determine your perspective. They didn’t teach you how to spell _dropping_ at Berkley? How strange. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-california-location-update/675304/34 "2013-12-11T21:49:59Z")
> [@TSBG](#): > > FWIW, in the recent Eagles documentary, Henley said the song is about “the journey from innocence to experience” (probably not a word for word quote, I saw it a few months ago). I appreciate mention of this. It’s the only good part about having Satan peeking out the upper window at you, yeah? It’s clear to me in their later songs that’s what the boys were saying. Where is Hotel California now, all you literalists? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hottius\_Maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hottius\_Maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hottius_Maximus)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-california-location-update/675304/35 "2013-12-12T00:12:07Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > Are they letting you use Patty Hearst’s old room, or are you down in the Randall Woodfield wing? Say “hi” to Yul for me. Actually Patty Hearst never stayed here; that was an urban legend. I did however, run into Judge Crater, Charlie Ross, and Wali Farad. And you should HEAR Glenn Miller playing those old time Big Band tunes! ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-california-location-update/675304/36 "2013-12-12T00:31:08Z")
Hey HM … post here just as soon as the sun sets … we could figure your longitude that way. ---
**Author:** ![Hottius\_Maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hottius\_Maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hottius_Maximus)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-california-location-update/675304/37 "2013-12-12T12:57:25Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > Hey HM … post here just as soon as the sun sets … we could figure your longitude that way. I appreciate the efforts. I asked the night man, but well…you know. One thing is certain: this could be heaven or this could be hell. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-california-location-update/675304/38 "2013-12-12T15:26:17Z")
Uh oh … my calculations may be a little fishy, but I have you in Anadyr, Siberia … are you sure you’re at the Hotel California and not the Gulag Inn? ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-california-location-update/675304/39 "2013-12-12T15:39:04Z")
> [@Tethered\_Kite](#): > > Where is Hotel California now, all you literalists? 😃 Down in Baja ([http://www.hotelcaliforniabaja.com/](http://www.hotelcaliforniabaja.com/)), although there’s no known connection to the Eagle’s song ([Hotel California | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/hotel.asp)). ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-california-location-update/675304/40 "2013-12-12T20:55:53Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > I’ve also wondered if the odd word “colitas” could help with an anagram to prove my conjecture. But if I ever got further than > HOTEL + CALIFORNIA + S = HEROIN + COLITAS + FAL Hey, you could rearrange it to get CALIFORNIA + IS + HOTEL = HEROIN + COLITAS + FAIL [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-california-location-update/675304.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-california-location-update/675304.md?page=3)