Hadley Meares is a historical journalist based in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in outlets including Aeon, LA Weekly, LA Magazine, Curbed LA, LAist, and Atlas Obscura. She is also a historical tour guide in Los Angeles. You can find her recent work and upcoming appearances at hadleymeares.com.
These are some of the most spectacular examples of abandoned engineering the world has ever known. The series explores how and why they were built, consider the financial and social costs of their failure and examine the environmental and ecological impacts. The series also explores how experts came up with plans to make something beautiful or useful from the ruins....
Not long after the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles opened in 1924, a guest committed suicide in one of its rooms, beginning a decades-long string of murders, suicides or otherwise unexplained......