The Doors’ John Densmore, Photographer Henry Diltz Celebrate Morrison Hotel Rebirth

The Doors‘ John Densmore and photographer Henry Diltz recently celebrated the rebirth of Morrison Hotel after the historic rock and roll landmark building was saved from demolition.

The Morrison Hotel in Los Angeles, which became popular after the release of legendary Doors’ album of the same name, was acquired by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation for $11.9 million earlier this month. The building is set to be converted into 111 units of low-income housing.

Doors drummer Densmore and photographer Diltz, who shot the iconic album cover more than 50 years ago, joined Healthy Housing Foundation (HHF), a division of AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), on Tuesday, December 19, to celebrate AHF’s acquisition of the historic Morrison Hotel.

“Jim Morrison would be very pleased to know that the site of the cover of our fifth album, Morrison Hotel, is now going to be the site of affordable housing,” said Densmore. “The people who work in the city can’t afford to live in the city, so the Morrison Hotel is now going to be a solution to that problem. On behalf of Jim and me, we’re very pleased about that and proud.”

“After doing a couple hundred album covers in the past 50 some years, this is the one that everybody knows,” said Diltz, as he then told the story of how the cover shot came to be.

“It was almost accidental, this whole thing,” he continued, explaining how the young guy in the lobby wouldn’t let the band pose inside. But once outside, Diltz saw the elevator light go on through the window, realized the guy had left the desk, and told the band to run inside. “It took five minutes,” Diltz added. “One roll of film.”

The single-room occupancy hotel was built in 1914.