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
Is this related to what you’re remembering?
If it is, then it certainly didn’t happen around the time the album came out in 1977.
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.
True…but I did check 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.
Is the link in post #23 related to what you said in post #6?
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
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.
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
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?
Okay. Thanks for that. Just trying to determine your perspective.
They didn’t teach you how to spell dropping at Berkley? How strange.
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? 
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!
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.
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?
Down in Baja (http://www.hotelcaliforniabaja.com/), although there’s no known connection to the Eagle’s song (Hotel California | Snopes.com).
Hey, you could rearrange it to get
CALIFORNIA + IS + HOTEL = HEROIN + COLITAS + FAIL