Phoenix Hotel Where Kurt Cobain Stayed Is Closing After 39 Years

Some of the biggest names in rock music stayed at the Phoenix Hotel in San Francisco over the years.

The hotel's website calls it "a Tenderloin cultural icon and longtime favorite of the rock n’roll set."

David Bowie, Kurt Cobain, Sinead O’Connor, and Neil Young were among the hotel's guests. 

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Cobain even "spent multiple New Year’s Eves at the Phoenix with members of Pearl Jam and the Red Hot Chili Peppers." 

A note Cobain wrote his wife, Courtney Love, which was found with him when he died, "was written on Phoenix Hotel stationery," the newspaper noted. The note was eventually released by police and showed that the singer was mocking his wedding vows with Love in it, CBS reported.

"Thanks to our ample parking lot, the Phoenix Hotel has welcomed many traveling musicians over the years," the hotel wrote on Instagram.

The hotel was open for 39 years, SFist reported. The news site describes the hotel as the "kitschy 1950s-style retro motor lodge that hosts Pride parties and daytime raves by the pool."

The hotel is closing at the end of 2025, according to that site, which reported that it used to be called the Caravan Motor Lodge.

That motel became the Phoenix and drew rockers when "local hospitality figure Chip Conley bought it in 1987," and "transformed it into a destination for touring rock bands by offering free parking for tour buses," wrote SFist.

Why is it closing? Conley told the Chronicle that the hotel "had been losing money since the pandemic, and both the Tenderloin’s chaotic street conditions and San Francisco’s weak hospitality sector" also played a role. The hotel's owners were part of a lawsuit suing the city, alleging that the city uses the Tenderloin as a “containment zone” for drug users, the Chronicle reported.

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