The Phillips Hotel Caught on Fire...Again

You may not have heard of the Phillips Hotel - unless you’re a Charles Bukowski fan. The hotel was the final residence of Bukowski’s first love and muse Jane Cooney Baker.

Anyway, it’s been on the abate list since 2017. When I started documenting empty buildings a few years ago, it was already missing its roof.

Guess what happened in the wee hours of Sunday morning? That’s right - it caught on fire again. Happy freaking Easter, East Hollywood.

It took about 10 seconds to find the demolition permit issued on March 24.

Plans to demolish the 1925 brick building and redevelop the property date back to at least 2022, so this is far from surprising. The delay in doing so may possibly have something to do with the building changing hands in January 2025; perhaps the previous owner may not have been up to the task for one reason or another.

I couldn’t tell you whether the Phillips could have been saved and restored; that’s a question for a structural engineer.

While I do not approve of leaving old buildings to rot, and while I firmly believe there needs to be accountability when an empty building catches on fire, at least the land won’t become overpriced “luxury” apartments.

The land is NOT subject to RSO, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that the replacement building will be a 60-unit affordable housing complex with a ground-floor restaurant space, plus two levels of parking.

That is certainly in the spirit of older SRO hotels like the Phillips, but did the building have to become a magnet for trash, graffiti, and fire in the meantime? Am I alone in thinking that it still could have been secured more thoroughly for safety’s sake?

This fire didn’t spread to neighboring buildings, but the next one might. And I sincerely hope there won’t be another one. Hollywood catches on fire enough already.

315 North Vermont Avenue, East Hollywood.