Haunted hotel guide · Santa Monica, California
The Haunted Georgian Hotel, Santa Monica: Speakeasy Ghosts on Ocean Avenue
A turquoise Art Deco hotel on Ocean Avenue where Bugsy Siegel drank in the basement, and where staff say the old speakeasy is never quite empty.
The Georgian has stood on Ocean Avenue since 1933, facing Palisades Park and the Pacific a short walk north of the Santa Monica Pier. It was one of the first tall buildings in town, a turquoise mix of Art Deco and Romanesque Revival that Hollywood quickly adopted as a seaside hideaway. It is one of the most elegant entries in our guide to haunted hotels in Los Angeles.
Its ghost stories are quiet ones. Staff have long described sighs, gasps and footsteps in the hotel’s restaurant spaces when nobody is there, and a voice that wishes them good morning in an empty room. Most of the stories gather around the old Prohibition speakeasy, which reopened as The Georgian Room after the hotel’s 2023 restoration.
The Georgian at a glance
Haunted Rooms Score
- Address 1415 Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90401
- Opened 1933
- Most haunted spots The former speakeasy (now The Georgian Room) and the oceanfront veranda and restaurant
- Best-known ghosts Unseen sighs and gasps, a voice saying good morning, running footsteps, transparent figures
- Booking the haunted room There is no named haunted guest room; the stories center on the public rooms, which you can visit as a guest
- Good to know 84 rooms including 28 suites; part of The Unbound Collection by Hyatt since 2026
The ghosts of The Georgian Hotel
Sighs and gasps in an empty room
The best-known story is also the simplest. Restaurant staff say that when the room is empty they hear loud sighs and gasps, as if someone sitting close by had just heard bad news. Legends of America places these reports in the old speakeasy restaurant, while an L.A. bar guide from Thirsty describes guests hearing the same sounds in the oceanfront Veranda restaurant. Either way, the sounds are described as close and distinctly human.
Nobody has put a name to the sigher. The stories do not come with a murder, a suicide or a tragic bride, which is part of what makes them feel like genuine staff lore rather than a story built for the brochure.
"Good morning" from nobody
Employees opening up have reported a voice greeting them with a cheerful “good morning” when there was nobody else in the room. Others describe footsteps running through the restaurant after closing and transparent figures glimpsed for a moment before they fade. None of this comes from the hotel itself, which does not promote ghosts, but the stories have been repeated in haunted hotel guides for years.
The speakeasy crowd
When the Georgian opened, Prohibition still had months to run, and its basement bar, the Red Griffin, became a discreet drinking room for studio executives and stars. The hotel names Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, Bugsy Siegel and Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle among its early guests. Many people who tell the hotel’s ghost stories assume the regulars of that room are the ones who never left, which is a guess rather than anything anyone can show.
The Borde family story
Rosamond Borde, who built the Georgian, had opened the Windermere Hotel nearby some twenty years earlier. According to Thirsty, her sister-in-law Celine walked from the Windermere toward the Santa Monica Pier one day and disappeared; weeks later her badly decomposed body was reported cast up by the sea. The Windermere is long gone, and there is no record tying Celine to the Georgian, but the story is often told alongside the hotel’s sighs and gasps.
The most haunted rooms and places to look
- The Georgian Room: The former Red Griffin speakeasy, reopened after the 2023 restoration with its L-shaped booths and a 1918 Steinway built into the bar. This is the room most of the ghost stories point to.
- The veranda and oceanfront dining room: Where guests describe sighs and gasps with nobody close by. Come at dusk for the sunset over the bay.
- Ocean-view guest rooms: No single room has a reputation of its own, but the upper floors give you the view the Georgian was built for.
History of The Georgian Hotel
The Georgian opened in 1933, built by hotelier Rosamond Borde and designed by architect M. Eugene Durfee. The style blends Romanesque Revival with Art Deco, and the eight-story building was among the tallest in Santa Monica, which earned it the nickname “The Lady,” a nod to the woman who built it. Some accounts credit a Judge Harry Borde as owner; the hotel’s own history names Mrs. Borde.
It opened as a resort for Los Angeles society, with a beauty parlor, a barbershop, a children’s playground and a dining room, plus the bar in the basement. Prohibition ended in December 1933, the hotel’s first year, but the Red Griffin kept its reputation as an exclusive, slightly secret room. Its regulars included Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, Bugsy Siegel and Fatty Arbuckle, and later visitors included Charlie Chaplin and Marilyn Monroe. Rose Kennedy spent summers at the hotel in the 1950s and 1960s.
During World War II the Georgian housed servicemen and aircraft designers, along with gamblers bound for the casino barges anchored off the coast. The building was remodeled in the 1950s, sold more than once, renovated again in the early 1990s and given a further $2 million refresh in 2000. The City of Santa Monica recognizes it as a historic landmark.
BLVD Hospitality founder Jon Blanchard bought the hotel in 2020 and restored it with the design firm Fettle, working with the Santa Monica Conservancy from archive photographs. The facade went back to its signature turquoise, and the speakeasy reopened as The Georgian Room after some 60 years, with a no-phones policy and live jazz. In 2026 the Georgian joined The Unbound Collection by Hyatt with 84 rooms, 28 of them suites.
Tips for a haunted stay
- Book a room facing Ocean Avenue for the view over Palisades Park to the Pacific.
- Reserve a table at The Georgian Room in advance. It is small, phones are not allowed, and it is the heart of the hotel’s ghost stories.
- Have a drink on the front terrace at sunset, then walk to the Santa Monica Pier, about ten minutes south.
- Ask the staff about the hotel’s history. The Georgian is proud of its Hollywood past, even if it does not advertise its ghosts.
- Pair your stay with a night at the Hollywood Roosevelt or the Queen Mary for a longer Los Angeles ghost trip.
More haunted hotels nearby
- Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel: Marilyn Monroe’s mirror and Montgomery Clift’s room
- The Queen Mary: the haunted ocean liner in Long Beach
- Haunted places in Los Angeles: more ghost stories across the city
- Haunted hotels in California
- Haunted hotels in Los Angeles
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We collect first-hand accounts from guests and add the best ones to our guides, with your first name and the date of your stay. We read every story before it’s published.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Georgian Hotel in Santa Monica haunted?
The Georgian has a quiet reputation for ghosts. Staff have reported sighs and gasps in empty restaurant rooms, a voice saying good morning, running footsteps after closing and brief transparent figures, most of them around the old speakeasy.
Where was the speakeasy at the Georgian Hotel?
The speakeasy, the Red Griffin, was in the lower level of the hotel. It reopened as The Georgian Room after the 2023 restoration, with its original L-shaped booth layout.
Did Bugsy Siegel stay at the Georgian Hotel?
The hotel names Bugsy Siegel among the guests who drank in its Prohibition-era bar, along with Clark Gable, Carole Lombard and Fatty Arbuckle.
When was the Georgian Hotel built?
It opened in 1933, built by hotelier Rosamond Borde and designed by architect M. Eugene Durfee.
Is there a haunted room at the Georgian Hotel?
No specific guest room is known as haunted. The reports come from the restaurant spaces and the former speakeasy, which hotel guests can visit.
Sources
Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.
- The Georgian: About the hotel
- Legends of America: The Haunted Georgian Hotel
- Thirsty: 20 haunted historic hotels and bars in L.A.
- InsideHook: The Georgian gets the makeover it deserves
- Hotel Dive: Georgian Hotel joins Unbound Collection by Hyatt
- Atlas Obscura: Georgian Hotel
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About the authors
The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every hotel in our guides using hotel histories, local archives, news coverage and the accounts of guests and staff, and we review each guide regularly so you are not booking a hotel that has closed or changed its name. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
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