The cover photo of The Eagles 1976 album “Hotel California” was taken by photographer David Alexander with art director Kosh.
For the cover of this album Don Henley wanted to convey:
“Faded loss of innocence and decadence. I was trying to use California as the microcosm for the rest of the nation.”
After taking photos of several different hotels the photo chosen by the band was of iconic The Beverly Hills Hotel, which is located on Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California.
The hotel opened in 1912 an has welcomed a list of celebrities to long to ever list here. While the cover looks quite straightforward, it actually cost $60,000 to produce. This was due to the difficulty of getting a cherry picker over the palm trees on Sunset Blvd. during rush hour and shooting the hotel with the sun behind it. Here is a slightly different angle of the shoot that was used for the cover of the “Hotel California” single…
This hotel was already a landmark before it graced the cover of The Eagles album but whenever I drive by it’s the “Hotel California“.
Guess what’s right across the street from The Beverly Hills Hotel??? The famous George Michael Bathroom, click below for that story.