Apart from all the strange circumstances surrounding the case, the condition around the location of the hotel was also considered at the time of Elisa Lam’s disappearance. Cecil Hotel is near Skid Row, notorious for being the den of criminals and drug traffickers.

The death of Elisa Lam was by no means new to the hotel. In the 1930s, just a few years after its opening, and with the Great Depression starting to make its impact felt, the hotel had been nicknamed “The Suicide” because of the several instances of suicide that took place here.