The good news is that the water guests were drinking and bathing in at the Hotel Cecil in downtown Los Angeles was found to be free of disease-causing bacteria. The bad news is the tank atop the hotel roof, where the water came from, had the body of a dead woman in it for two weeks.

The tests came back negative on Thursday, two days after the body of 21-year-old Elisa Lam was found at the bottom of the tank by a maintenance worker following complaints from guests about low water pressure. The hotel is located just blocks from Skid Row.

“I'm really disgusted,” Annette Suzuki of San Francisco told the Los Angeles Times. “Wouldn't you be if there was a dead body in the water tank you're drinking from?”

Sabina and Michael Baugh, who moved out Wednesday, told CNN that the experience was awful and left them unnerved. The tap water “had a very funny, sweety, disgusting taste,” Sabina said, although they drank it for a week without complaining. “It's a very strange taste. I can barely describe it.” Michael could. “It makes you feel literally physically sick, but more than that you feel it psychologically. You think about it and it’s not good.”

Lam, a Canadian tourist, was never officially a resident at the hotel. She disappeared about three weeks ago and her parents reported her missing. Police released surveillance video footage of Lam inside a Cecil Hotel elevator, pushing buttons for multiple floors and stepping out of the elevator with her arms waving. Her death is under investigation.

Guests continued to check into the hotel on Thursday, although they had to sign waivers that the hotel was not responsible if they got sick. Guests who had paid in advance but felt compelled to leave were not reimbursed by the hotel. Many of the guests are tourists from other countries, attracted by the relatively low rates and advertisements that promise “European-style” accommodations at reasonable prices close to the city’s main attractions.

The hotel, built in 1925, was the site of murders in the old days, when it catered more to transients. A woman jumped to her death from one of the rooms in 1962, killing the pedestrian she landed on. Another woman, known as the Pigeon Lady of Pershing Square (a nearby landmark), was found strangled to death in her room at the hotel in 1964.

Hotel Cecil was a frequent home in the 1980s to “Night Stalker” serial killer Richard Ramirez, who now resides on Death Row at San Quentin. Austrian murderer Jack Unterweger also stayed there around the same time, and reportedly picked up prostitutes nearby who were later found dead.

The hotel has, in recent years, sought to reposition itself in the marketplace to take advantage of an economic upturn in downtown Los Angeles. It was purchased in 2007, and the new owner launched “a "boutique hotel / youth hostel hybrid” called Stay Hotel within the Hotel Cecil. The plan at the time was to designate 138 of the hotel’s 600 rooms for tourists and guests more upscale than its usual clientele.

Many of the hotel residents have reportedly relocated, at least temporarily, but a few still remain, sipping bottled water provided by management. But bargain-hunting travelers should note, the hotel’s website says all of its rooms are booked through the end of February.

–Ken Broder

To Learn More:

How Did Woman’s Body Come to be in L.A. Hotel Water Tank? (by Alan Duke, CNN)

After Tourist Is Found Dead in Tank, Hotel’s Water Supply Is Tested (by Adolfo Flores, Los Angeles Times)

The Long, Dark History of the Cecil Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles (by Susanne Whatley and Bianca Ramirez, KPCC)