Hotel San Carlos, Phoenix

Hotel San Carlos, Phoenix

The San Carlos Hotel is a historical place to stay in Phoenix. It is also a very popular tourist attraction in town. These grounds used to be the location for the first school in Phoenix, back in 1874. The school remained here until 1928, when preparation for the new hotel was started. It competed for years with the Westward Ho, which is also located on Central Avenue. You used to be able to see the likes of Mae West, Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, Gene Autry and Jack Dempsey here at one time or another. Marilyn Monroe also stayed here.

The hotel can be briefly seen in the opening shot of Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho, as the camera pans the then-skyline of downtown Phoenix.

The most famous factoid about his hotel is that it is reported to be haunted. For years it has been the site of multiple ghost sightings. The most common sighting is that of Leone Jensen, who visited the hotel in 1928. She committed suicide while there.

The San Carlos was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. The City of Phoenix also added it as a historic location in 2003. The Travel Channel did a show about the place in 2004, which still airs on occasion.

Want to visit this sight? Check out these Self-Guided Walking Tours in Phoenix. Alternatively, you can download the mobile app "GPSmyCity: Walks in 1K+ Cities" from Apple App Store or Google Play Store. The app turns your mobile device to a personal tour guide and it works offline, so no data plan is needed when traveling abroad.

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Hotel San Carlos on Map

Sight Name: Hotel San Carlos
Sight Location: Phoenix, USA (See walking tours in Phoenix)
Sight Type: Attraction/Landmark
Guide(s) Containing This Sight:

Walking Tours in Phoenix, Arizona

Create Your Own Walk in Phoenix

Create Your Own Walk in Phoenix

Creating your own self-guided walk in Phoenix is easy and fun. Choose the city attractions that you want to see and a walk route map will be created just for you. You can even set your hotel as the start point of the walk.
Phoenix Introduction Walking Tour

Phoenix Introduction Walking Tour

Phoenix is the largest city in Arizona and the central city in a larger metropolitan area known as the Valley of the Sun. The city was first settled as an agricultural community where the Salt and Gila Rivers met. An intricate canal system keeps this hot corner of the Sonoran Desert fertile. In the early days, the city's economy was based on the "Five Cs"—citrus, cotton, copper,...  view more

Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 3.7 Km or 2.3 Miles
Arizona State University (ASU) Walking Tour

Arizona State University (ASU) Walking Tour

Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, Arizona State University (ASU) is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the United States. ASU has nearly 150,000 students attending classes across its five campuses and four regional learning centers throughout the state.

The university's main campus at Tempe Arizona, east of downtown Phoenix, is an attraction...  view more

Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 3.6 Km or 2.2 Miles
Downtown Historical Landmarks Walking Tour

Downtown Historical Landmarks Walking Tour

The downtown area of Phoenix, Arizona, is loaded with notable sites, each bearing witness to a unique chapter in the city's past, from the Victorian elegance of the Rosson House Museum to the spiritual grandeur of Saint Mary's Basilica and the cinematic allure of the Barrister Building.

The latter, known as "The Psycho" Building, gained fame for its cameo in Alfred...  view more

Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 3.9 Km or 2.4 Miles