Sometimes musicians can make things seem much nicer than they really are. Case in point is The White Stripes’ track “Hotel Yorba.”
It turns out that the hotel was very real, but maybe not a place you should visit. Located at 4020 Lafayette Boulevard in southwestern Detroit, the real Yorba Hotel was quite run-down. Rooms can only be rented by the week, many of its occupants were between living accommodations, and online reviews repeatedly mention bed bugs, numerous health code violations, and aggressive drug dealers in the area. The desolation of the Yorba Hotel is contrasted with visions of a beautiful country home in the White Stripes song, but Jack White had other things in mind when writing.
White has said that one of his favourite rumours as a kid was of the Beatles supposedly staying at the Yorba Hotel during their time in the States. Untrue, but at least it inspired a good song.
The Hotel Yorba was declared unsafe in 2025 and boarded up. It’s abandoned.
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