My Google News alert fed me this lil’ gem, about the SRO Bristol Hotel on Mason Street at Eddy. It’s a newspaper article from the San Francisco Chronicle, dated September 4, 1985. Apparently, some of the Bristol’s residents thought the former room of serial killer Richard Ramirez kept its bad juju even after its Satan-worshiping tenant had been re-housed on San Quentin’s death row. Ramirez, known as the Night Stalker, stayed in the Bristol during part of his 1985 cross-California murder spree. He was eventually convicted of 13 counts of murder, 5 counts of attempted murder, and numerous counts of sexual assault and burglary. The hotel’s manager was critical in catching Ramirez, as he contacted police after seeing a sketch of the suspected Stalker.
Ramirez sexually assaulted, raped, and mutilated women, and during his time in San Francisco he lived in the same building as famous Society for Cutting Up Men (SCUM) founder and would-be Andy Warhol murderer, Valerie Solanis. Solanis died at the Bristol in 1988 of emphysema, and it’s not known how long she lived there. Solanas was in her 50′s when she died at the Bristol, twice as old as Ramirez. It’s unknown if they actually ever met one another, even in passing, but it’s certainly interesting to think about what it would have been like. Would there have been a spark of recognition between criminals? Or would they just have seen each other as potential victims?
From the Chron:
The vibrations are so bad in Room 315 at the Hotel Bristol in the Tenderloin that Daniel Sepeda thinks it’s time to bring in the holy water. ‘I should sprinkle some around and say some prayers,’ he said. ‘There are weird spirits here. It gives me the creeps.’ Sepeda and his roommate, James Bowton, attribute those creeps to Room 315′s former tenant, Richard Ramirez. Ramirez is the man police say is the ‘Night Stalker,’ a cold-blooded serial killer who murdered people while they lay sleeping and then scrawled satanic symbols on their walls. Ramirez stayed at the Bristol several times during the past two years, according to manager Alex Melnikov… Melnikov said Ramirez left behind a mysterious odor in the room. ‘It smelled like skunk,’ said one resident who declined to give her name. ‘The cleaning man sprayed like hell, but it wouldn’t go away.’ A five-pointed star, a pentagram, associated with devil worship, was found drawn on the bathroom door…
5 Comments until now
Wonderful, chilling post. I had no idea about this slice of horror. I’ll not walk by that place with the same nonchalance again. Freaky.
Dean V.
Ramirez also stayed at the Hotel West (then named the Hotel Zee) on Eddy Street in 1984, when he killed nine-year-old Mei Leung.
By the way, Ramirez was captured after newspapers published an LAPD file photo of him from a 1984 suspected car theft case and a crowd of people in LA recognized him and chased him down and held him until the police arrived to arrest him.
Due to desperate inability to find a hotel in SF this week becuase of the Oracle conference, I stayed at the Bristol night before last–in room 317! I had no idea the Night Stalker had stayed there years before, in the adjoining room. But I can vouch for the creepy vibes. Truly, you have to feel it to believe it. It was like entering another dimension. Can’t believe I stayed the night. The smell is also unreal. And the bedbugs (or something)–woke up covered in bites.
Whoa, thanks for the story Marla. Creepy! And creepy crawlies!