When You Wake Up In Your Hotel To A Crime Scene…

When You Wake Up In Your Hotel To A Crime Scene…

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I’m presently staying at the Andaz West Hollywood, which is my “go to” hotel in LA. I love the “view” rooms, which face Sunset Boulevard, downtown LA, etc.

Sunset-Tower-View

This morning I woke up shortly before 5AM, as I usually do. I have a car at the moment, so called down to the valet to fetch it, so I could drive to Starbucks and get coffee (the one nearby doesn’t open until later, I suppose because being a “triple threat” — YouTube actor/shower singer/Instagram model — doesn’t require getting up when it’s still dark outside).

When I phoned down, the convo went something like this:

Associate: “You’re going to have to pick the car up in the back, though.”
Me: “Sorry, what do you mean?”
Associate: “The front side of the hotel is closed, so you’ll just want to come around the back side.”
Me: “Did, um, something happen?”
Associate: “I’m not sure…”

I opened the curtains, only to find a bunch of news trucks and police cars on a completely roped off Sunset Boulevard. There was even a helicopter buzzing overhead.

Andaz-1

Andaz-2

Alright, clearly something was going on, so then I Googled. As it turns out, it looks like someone got fatally shot at around 1AM at The Comedy Store, which is adjacent to the Andaz.

Goodness gracious! My thoughts are with the victim’s friends and family.

The Andaz puts coffee out in the lobby at around 6AM, so at that time I headed down there in my jammies (I never learn), only to find the police in the lobby interviewing someone.

I go out of my way to avoid staying at hotels where I know violent crimes have happened (I’m just weird when it comes to stuff like that), but I’m thinking I’ll give the hotel a pass, as it’s just violent crime adjacent. 😉

Anyway, sorry for the totally random post, but it certainly altered my morning routine a bit!

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  1. Klive Guest

    That is a new topic Ben. Imagine travelling with someone who can "See". It means they can see the dead person's soul still hanging around the hotel or even that particular room assigned. This person is really a good person, and believes in God's ability given her. She will communicate with the soul and help it go to where it belongs. That requires a tremendous amount of unconditional love for humanity. The soul should not...

    That is a new topic Ben. Imagine travelling with someone who can "See". It means they can see the dead person's soul still hanging around the hotel or even that particular room assigned. This person is really a good person, and believes in God's ability given her. She will communicate with the soul and help it go to where it belongs. That requires a tremendous amount of unconditional love for humanity. The soul should not be hanging around the hotel. This is truly a blessed travel when a soul gets this love. Prayers.

  2. GringoLoco Gold

    No 24 hour room service? I need my pot of coffee and six a.m. is at least two hours too late!

  3. jessica Guest

    My crime scene adjacent story: woke up on January 1 in Sydney to a bunch of TV cameras, etc. outside of our hotel across the street. Some guy "king hit" a random guy on the street and killed him. It was all over the news the rest of our trip.

  4. Sam Guest

    This is a vital post for the blog.. Who cares about the murder, the coffee is out at 6am guys. This changes everything

  5. mbh Guest

    Well, it WOULD be kind of funny if you'd post pics of yourself in F pjs at various locations, a la the Travelocity gnome. ; )

    We could collect them like bb cards. "I have a Ben in his Cathay P pjs at the Hollywood Andaz." "Yeah, well that's nothing--I have him in his Etihad pjs in the Singapore F lounge in Singapore--talk about your faux pas! He never did THAT again . . . . ."

  6. Todd Guest

    Well apparently The Comedy Store is already haunted so hope this doesn't make it worse. In fact I was just watching a rerun on Lifetime of Unsolved Mysteries and there was an episode about it.

  7. Ken Guest

    Lucky, is there any place where you don't consider jammies to be appropriate attire? You should post your picture wearing your jammies so that your readers will recognize you if we bump into you while out and about.

  8. Ken Guest

    @lopere, you have confused your blogs. It's a different blog that runs the clinic that specializes in getting points should a staff member fail to fall to his knees while uttering "certainly master".

  9. Robert Plafker Member

    Club going up on a Tuesday...

  10. Al Guest

    And blind followers gonna blindly follow.

  11. Rami Guest

    @Seattle Eric:
    Well said.

    Keep up the good work Ben. Haters gonna hate!

  12. YYZgayguy Diamond

    @Seattle Eric:

    +1

  13. Seattle Eric Member

    @Ben - you must have developed thick skin to not react emotionally to all these negative comments. I really admire that in you. I'm still growing and learning that I can't allow what other people say (whether they are family & close friends, or trolls and strangers on the Internet) to impact my emotional state, to ruin my day (it still happens to me, in spite of my denial). These jabs and insults reflect more...

    @Ben - you must have developed thick skin to not react emotionally to all these negative comments. I really admire that in you. I'm still growing and learning that I can't allow what other people say (whether they are family & close friends, or trolls and strangers on the Internet) to impact my emotional state, to ruin my day (it still happens to me, in spite of my denial). These jabs and insults reflect more on those saying it than on you; remember that.

    To very loosely paraphrase Howard Stern: "No one is forcing you to read Ben's blog. Go somewhere else, you f***ing trolls!"

    Personally, I strongly respect that 1) you are doing what you love (no matter how nuts that love seems to be to some), 2) you have built a successful business model doing what you love, and 3) you have found a place in your life where you seem happy (Ford! LA!).

  14. lopere Guest

    Glad to hear you got your coffee. Very, very sorry you were inconvenienced.

    Have you considered writing the hotel and asking for compensation? Not being able to get Starbucks and the mental anguish caused would certainly be worth 10k points, no?

  15. Lively Guest

    My story: I was on a cruise in March. When we docked in San Juan PR...and the ship was crawling with FBI agents. A man murdered his wife one floor below mine.

  16. Guyguyguy Guest

    Why drive to pick something up when you can use the Postmates app? They deliver Starbucks at all hours for $5. Given that you likely would have tipped the valet bringing up your car, the cost is negligible.

  17. Tom Guest

    I agree with @Daniel. I'm more concerned about you driving to a coffee shop when coffee was available in the lobby.

    1. lucky OMAAT

      @ Tom -- Coffee is only available in the lobby starting at 6AM.

  18. Daniel Member

    Gotta love the sentence: "So I called the valet to fetch my car so I could drive to Starbucks."

  19. pavel Guest

    i could tell you about roughly a dozen murders within a half mile of that place over the past 10 years, being an avid news junkie and frequent west hollywood visitor. no matter where you stay, assume a murder has happened there or nearby at some point.

  20. TravelNerd Guest

    I'd rather one quality post a day instead of these crappy, irrelevant posts. What? Not enough Real Housewife gifs today?

    "Alright, clearly something was going on, so then I Googled. As it turns out, it looks like someone got fatally shot at around 1AM at The Comedy Store, which is adjacent to the Andaz.

    Goodness gracious! My thoughts are with the victim’s friends and family.

    The Andaz puts coffee out in the lobby at around...

    I'd rather one quality post a day instead of these crappy, irrelevant posts. What? Not enough Real Housewife gifs today?

    "Alright, clearly something was going on, so then I Googled. As it turns out, it looks like someone got fatally shot at around 1AM at The Comedy Store, which is adjacent to the Andaz.

    Goodness gracious! My thoughts are with the victim’s friends and family.

    The Andaz puts coffee out in the lobby at around 6AM, so at that time I headed down there in my jammies (I never learn), only to find the police in the lobby interviewing someone."

    Yeah you really care about victim's friends and family.

  21. Seattle Eric Member

    I love that a billboard for the leftovers is in the photo, which features a sleepwalking main character who does horrible things in his sleep and has no recollection of his actions when he comes to. Perhaps it was you, Ben? ;)

  22. Jason Guest

    You're not a sleepwalker, are you, Lucky?

  23. Audi 5000 Guest

    Even a helicopter? In LA?

  24. Nick Guest

    To what is the "triple threat" aside referring?

  25. YYZgayguy Diamond

    Okay, we all know the Comments section will simply ERUPT after this post. Most will be negative, probably.

    I'd like to go on record with this: I'm glad you posted this, Ben. I want to know, Ben. AND the worst thing that could happen to OMAAT is to chill the blogger out of freely posting. We get this stuff for free. Every now and then, a post I really need or love appears. I don't...

    Okay, we all know the Comments section will simply ERUPT after this post. Most will be negative, probably.

    I'd like to go on record with this: I'm glad you posted this, Ben. I want to know, Ben. AND the worst thing that could happen to OMAAT is to chill the blogger out of freely posting. We get this stuff for free. Every now and then, a post I really need or love appears. I don't want it to stop.

    Is this post trivial? Is it off-topic?
    Bring it on. Our blogger is a decent person with lots to say, most (nearly all) interesting, some valuable. More, not less, please. If you have the time.

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Klive Guest

That is a new topic Ben. Imagine travelling with someone who can "See". It means they can see the dead person's soul still hanging around the hotel or even that particular room assigned. This person is really a good person, and believes in God's ability given her. She will communicate with the soul and help it go to where it belongs. That requires a tremendous amount of unconditional love for humanity. The soul should not be hanging around the hotel. This is truly a blessed travel when a soul gets this love. Prayers.

0
GringoLoco Gold

No 24 hour room service? I need my pot of coffee and six a.m. is at least two hours too late!

0
jessica Guest

My crime scene adjacent story: woke up on January 1 in Sydney to a bunch of TV cameras, etc. outside of our hotel across the street. Some guy "king hit" a random guy on the street and killed him. It was all over the news the rest of our trip.

0
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