Sleeping with the Spirits

Sleeping with the Spirits

Hotel San Carlos has been home to Hollywood glamour, but the historic structure also has ghost stories

By Cait Brennan Dee

Hotel San Carlos

Halloween is a time when glamorous ghouls go bump in the night. But all those costumed characters can't compare to the Valley's legendary Hotel San Carlos, where guests can relive the glamour of Hollywood's golden age and perhaps even raise a toast with a ghost.

"We're a boutique historic hotel," said Angela Hentz, general manager of the Hotel San Carlos in downtown Phoenix. "We're not a spooky place, but we do have some ghost stories."

The landmark Italian Renaissance-style San Carlos was the first air-conditioned high-rise hotel in Phoenix when it opened in 1928, at the height of the Jazz Age.

Centrally located near two of Phoenix's most popular movie palaces, the Orpheum and Fox theaters, the San Carlos quickly became the destination of choice for visiting Hollywood stars. Several of those stars are honored in the hotel's signature suites, but perhaps most popular are the suites that honor two of the Golden Age of Hollywood's most iconic sex symbols, Marilyn Monroe and Mae West.

Monroe famously stayed in Room 326 at the San Carlos while filming Bus Stop, and the suite named for her features a photograph of her in that very room. The Mae West suite exactly replicates Miss West's own bed in her Hollywood home. West began her love affair with the San Carlos in 1929, when she stayed at the hotel while appearing in I'm No Angel at the nearby Orpheum.

"Our guests can sit on the furniture and sleep on the same bed Mae West and Marilyn Monroe slept in," Hentz said. "It's absolutely available to the public."

West returned many times, becoming the first in a long line of loyal Hollywood customers that include Ingrid Bergman, Spencer Tracy, Jean Harlow, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Jayne Mansfield, Gary Cooper and Cary Grant.

Clark Gable had an affinity for the San Carlos. His favorite room was 412, and Gable and his fiancée, Carole Lombard, stayed at the hotel before their 1939 wedding in Kingman.

Haunted well at Hotel San Carlos in Phoenix AZ

19th Century well

Ghost stories

But the ghosts of Hollywood are not the only spirits in residence at the legendary hotel, Hentz said. "We are very popular during Halloween, and we have rooms that are supposed to be haunted," she said.

Legend has it that in the spring of 1928, a young girl's fancy turned to... death. Leone Jensen, a 22-year old California ingénue, came to the newly opened San Carlos in hopes of marrying her beau, the bellboy of the rival Adams Hotel. Spurned (and according to her suicide note, beaten) by the cad, the broken-hearted Jensen left Room 720, climbed to the roof and leapt to her death.

The Arizona Republican (later the Republic) and other local newspapers reported the tragic story, and wild gossip surrounded her demise, according to the book Hotel San Carlos by Robert Melikian, whose family has owned the hotel for much of its history.

Relieved of her earthly burden, Jensen's spirit reportedly visits the seventh floor to this day, on a strictly benevolent basis.

"You have to remember that if there's a ghost, it's a good ghost, it's a nice ghost," Hentz said. "We don't have a spooky one."

Aspiring ghostbusters often request a room on that floor in hopes of catching a glimpse of the girl who joined the choir invisible. "The whole seventh floor is very popular," Hentz said.

It's not just Jensen's eternal journey that goes bump in the night. The basement contains a well dating back to 1874. Back then, the hotel site was the city's first adobe schoolhouse, and the story goes that three young boys lost a ball down the well, foolishly went down after it and shuffled off this mortal coil. Guests and hotel staff reportedly hear echoes of the children running through the halls, laughing and playing.

The Mae West Suite

Preserving a legacy

The ghost stories are so ingrained that the present-day San Carlos features the Ghost Lounge, a modern nightclub that pours spirits of a more earthly variety. A swank new restaurant, Bistro 202, shares space in the lobby for fine dining.

The San Carlos has a fabled history, but it's no museum piece. "While we are historic and charming, we blend modern amenities," Hentz said. "Our walls are built to last forever. It's not contemporary hollow construction, so that made wireless Internet a challenge, but we made it happen. Even though guests feel they're going back in time, they still have all modern conveniences."

The San Carlos has also been honored for its energy-efficient efforts to "go green." The building received certification from the Green Chamber of Commerce.

It's the Melikian family's dedication to preserving the historic hotel's legacy, as well as the modern amenities, that keep people coming back, said Augustina Porter, the hotel's event coordinator.

"We try hard to respect the integrity of the hotel," Porter said. "We get a lot of very loyal repeat customers who come here, love it here and don't want to go anyplace else."

"We welcome everybody who likes to feel and touch and experience going back to that day," Hentz said. "We're the only surviving historic hotel in downtown Phoenix, and we're still going strong. We're looking for an even brighter future." -E