Jim Morrison in Paris

In the fall of 2001 I was in Paris. My approach is to look for the place at the very bottom of what Lonely Planet is willing to mention. In Paris this was l'Hôtel de Medicis (214 Rue St. Jacques, Metro: Luxembourg).

It wasn't until much later that I realized that I very nearly stayed in Jim Morrison's room! Not the same room where he stayed, but a very similar one just upstairs.

The owner of http://www.jimsroom.com/ found this page and explained: "I stumbled upon your website with the photos of the Hôtel de Medicis, and yes he did stay there for a couple of weeks not long before he died. However, the room in which you stayed is not the room in which Jim Morrison stayed. Jim was in room 4 which is on the first floor after you go up the stairs from the office. The room in which you stayed, judging from the green sink (there is only one in the hotel) is most likely room 20 which is on the third floor all the way to the end of the corridor on the right, last door, courtyard." Yes, that's where I was.

Compare the image below of the view from my room with the image of the view from Jim's room at http://www.jimsroom.com/, looking at the building with three floors of four windows each. Eye-level in my room was approximately level with the top of the top row of windows; that from Jim's room with the tops of the windows two floors below. Also, my room was further to the left when facing the courtyard, which is to say further down the hall from the stairway.

Chronology of Jim Morrison in Paris

June 20-24, 1970	Jim stayed at Hôtel George V (31 Ave George V, Metro: George V). Departure approximate, described as "about 4 days later".
July 1970	Jim stayed one week at l'Hôtel de Medicis. Date approximate, described as after "more than a week in Morocco" and some time in Spain after leaving Paris on or about June 24th.
March 11, 1971	Jim returned to Paris. His girlfriend Pamela Courson was staying at the Hôtel Georges V.
March 18, 1971	Jim and Pamela moved to an apartment on the third floor at Rue Beautreillis 17.
May, 1971	Jim and Pamela stayed for a few days at l'Hôtel (13 Rue des Beaux Arts) in a room on the second floor because their apartment was being used by some friends of a French model with whom they shared it. The room they occupied was the one in which Oscar Wilde died.
May, 1971	Jim and Pamela stayed for a few days at 4bis Rue des Beaux Arts, upstairs in what was then a hotel but now is the Galerie Patrice Trigano.
July 3, 1971	Jim dies in his bathtub at Rue Beautreillis 17.
July 7, 1971	Jim is buried at Père Lachaise cemetery on the east side of Paris.
Some of this information is from the very useful page "The Complete Paris Guide for Doors Fans" where you can find far more detail.

Works by Jim Morrison (while I'm making lists....)

Music	The Doors (Jan 1967)
	Strange Days (Oct 1967)
	Waiting for the Sun (July 1968)
	The Soft Parade (June 1969)
	Morrison Hotel (Feb 1970)
	L.A. Woman (April 1971)
	An American Prayer (Nov 1978)
Books	The Lords and The New Creatures (1969) 1985 edition: ISBN 0-7119-0552-5
	An American Prayer (1970) privately printed by Western Lithographers. Unauthorized edition of disputed authenticity published in 1983, Zeppelin Publishing Company, ISBN 0-915628-46-5.
	Wilderness: The Lost Writings Of Jim Morrison (1988). 1990 edition: ISBN 0-14-011910-8
	The American Night: The Writings of Jim Morrison (1990). 1991 edition: ISBN 0-670-83772-5
Films	HWY: An American Pastoral (1969)
Films	Feast of Friends (1970)

My Pictures

Here are scans of my admittedly poor photographs:

The hallway

A room just like Jim Morrison's room in Paris

Entering the room

The room

The view from a room just like Jim Morrison's room in Paris

The view from the room

The plumbing in a room just like Jim Morrison's room in Paris

The facilities, a sink and a bidet.
Also see The Toilets of the World

The furniture in a room just like
Jim Morrison's room in Paris

The room

Here are some much better images, from a visit to Paris in 2005 with a digital camera. See "The Complete Paris Guide for Doors Fans" for a good description of where Jim lived in Paris.

Rue Beautreillis 17,
where Jim Morrison and Pamela Courson
lived in Paris until Jim's death

Rue Beautreillis 17. Jim returned to Paris 11 March 1971, lived with his girlfriend Pamela Courson at the Hôtel Georges V for a week, and then they moved to an apartment on the 3rd floor of this building.

To get there, take the Metro to the Bastille station. Exit, head west on Rue Saint Antoine, turn left on Rue Beautrellis.

Hôtel de Medicis,
where Jim Morrison lived in Paris
in the Latin Quarter.
The sign at the entrance.

Hôtel de Medicis,
where Jim Morrison lived in Paris
in the Latin Quarter.
The entrance.

Hôtel de Medicis,
where Jim Morrison lived in Paris
in the Latin Quarter.
A view down Rue Saint Jacques.

l'Hôtel de Medicis, at left and above.

It's at 214 Rue Saint Jacques, +33-01-43-26-22-35-01-43.

They don't take reservations, you have to just show up and take your chances. The time I stayed there was in late October and a room was available. The next time was in early June and they were full.

A cemetery map listing celebrities
including Jim Morrison.

Finding Jim's grave at Cimetiere de Pere Lachaise.

A cemetery map showing the locations
of the graves of celebrities
including Jim Morrison.

ΚΑΤΑ ΤΟΝ ΔΑΙΜΟΜΑ ΕΑΥΤΟΥ

KATA TON DAIMONA EAUTOU.

Depending on which translation you choose, this means:

To the divine spirit within himself,
He caused his own demons, or
True to his own spirit.

Back to the travel in France page

Home Page

Unix/Linux

TCP/IP

Infosec

Travel

Radio

Site Map

Contact


© Bob Cromwell Nov 2008. Created with `/bin/vi` and ImageMagick, hosted on OpenBSD with Apache. Root password available here