Let’s face it. Call it tasteless, call it vile, but there’s just something fascinating about the places where people died. Sure there is often an equal curiosity regarding where someone was born, but when Abraham Lincoln was born he was not yet “Abraham Lincoln”. As interesting as a story may begin, it is hardly ever as gripping as the way the story ends, and if that’s now the case, well, then it’s not a very good story. Below, we list just a few of the places where some of our histories greatest stories came to an end.
Robert F. Kennedy, The Ambassador Hotel
In the early morning of June 5th, 1968, a little after midnight, Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in the kitchen and pantry area of the Ambassador Hotel. Having just won the California primary for the upcoming presidential election, Robert F. Kennedy addressed his campaign supporters in the Ambassador Hotel’s Embassy Ballroom. He was then led through the kitchen and pantry area as a shortcut to his next engagement. It was here that an assassin fatally shot him. The assassination was especially chilling since his brother, President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated only 5 years earlier. The Ambassador Hotel has been famous since it opened in the early 1920’s. It’s nightclub, the Coconut Grove, was arguably the hottest night-spot in all of Los Angeles throughout the 1920’s and 1930’s. The hotel was finally demolished in 2005. Fortunately, a few small portions of it were left standing and will be incorporated into a school that is now being built there.
River Phoenix, Viper Room
Early in the morning, around 1am on Halloween in 1993, the actor River Phoenix was doing drugs with some drug dealer friends in the bathroom of The Viper Room, a club on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. After snorting some “Persian Brown”, River began to overdose and stumbled out of the bathroom, to his sister and another friend who ultimately took him outside, where he collapsed on the sidewalk and began going into seizures. 911 calls were made by photographer Ron Davis and River’s brother Joaquin. After eight minutes, the seizures finally stopped and River went into cardiac arrest. Paramedics rushed him to the hospital, where he was soon pronounced dead. The Viper Room opened in 1993. It gained immediately fame as one of its owners was Johnny Depp. In 2004, Johnny Depp relinquished his portion of the Viper Room which is now owned by Harry Morton, President and CEO of the Pink Taco chain of restaurants. Harry Morton is the son of Peter Motion, founder of the Hard Rock Café, who in turn is the son of Arnold J. Morton, the founder of Morton’s Steakhouse.
John Belushi, Chateau Marmont
On March 3rd, 1982, John Belushi was found dead, having died of an overdose caused by a “speedball”, a combination of cocaine and heroin. Belushi had been visited that night by both Robin Williams and Robert De Niro. When they left, Belushi was still with an assortment of other people, including Cathy Smith, who admitted later to being the one who gave Belushi the drugs that killed him. She would go on to serve 18 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter. The Chateau Marmont Hotel, were Belushi was found, opened in 1929 on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. It was originally intended as an apartment house, but due to the depression, the building was quickly converted into a hotel. It would then become a hot spot in Los Angeles, catering to many of Hollywood’s rich and famous, from Howard Hughes to Britney Spears. The building was inspired by the Chateau d’Ambroise in France’s Loire Valley.
Elvis Presley, Graceland
On August 16th, 1977, Elvis Presley, at the age of 42, suffered a massive heart attack while using the toilet at his home, Graceland. Elvis had apparently stumbled to the floor and was able to crawl several feet before he died. He was found by his fiancé, Ginger Alden. Elvis’s health had been in decline for several years, and this was greatly exacerbated through an addiction to prescription drugs. Elvis was initially buried at Forest Hills Cemetery in Memphis on August 18th, but when an attempt was made to steal his body only ten days later, his remains, as well as the remains of several other members of his family, were moved to Graceland, where they are still buried today.
Abraham Lincoln, Petersen House
When most think of the building associated with the death of Abraham Lincoln, they think of Ford’s Theater. And while yes, this is where President Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth, it is not where he died. After President Lincoln was shot, the doctors attending to him decided he needed to be moved but could not handle the bumpy ride back to the White House. President Lincoln was carried out of Ford’s Theater where a man named Harry Safford yelled, “Bring him in here! Bring him in here!” and led the group into William Petersen’s boarding house. President Lincoln was placed on a bed (diagonally, because he was so tall) in a bedroom on the first floor. The attending doctors were able to prolong his life for a short duration, but after being unconscious for nine hours, President Lincoln finally succumbed to his injury and died. Today the Petersen House, as well as Ford’s theater are both owned by the United States Government and preserved as historic sites.
Whether is be a hotel, a home, or anywhere else, the location of where someone dies can quite often tell us a great deal about how they lived. Every individual life in this world is a part of history, and if there is anything we can do with history, it is learn from it. When it is a famous life that has ended, the lesson becomes communal. Perhaps that is why the deaths of the famous and powerful fascinate us so much.
