Jim Morrison's WeHo Building Hits Market for $3.5M

The Doors frontman lived in one of the apartment building's five units for several months in the early 1970s and gave his last interview there.

Want to own a little piece of rock ‘n’ roll real estate? If you've got $3.5 million to burn, you're in luck. The last Los Angeles home of Doors frontman Jim Morrison is about to hit the market.

The five-unit, Spanish-style apartment building at 8214-8218 1/2 Norton Ave. in West Hollywood will be put up for sale this month. It will be marketed as a potential bed and breakfast or rental building.

“It has a great history as Jim Morrison’s last residence and it also has great architectural integrity,” says Barry Peele, the Sotheby International Realty agent who will list the property.

Morrison lived in top-floor unit 8216 1/2 from about 1970 to 1971 with girlfriend Pam Courson. It is reportedly where he conducted his last interview in the U.S. with Rolling Stone's Ben Fong-Torres, who was dating a neighbor in the building, in February 1971. Morrison died of a suspected drug overdose in Paris a few months later.

The white-stucco complex, built in the 1930s, is littered with Morrison history and odes. A plaque outside the building boasts its status as the rocker's last U.S. home. A bust of Morrison is encased in Plexiglas in the center of the brick-paved courtyard and a sign reading "Doors Fan Parking Only" hangs near the parking area. There's a small statue of a lizard on an exterior wall as an homage to Morrison's Lizard King persona.

Owner Cheri Woods, a former Hollywood madam and the ex-wife of the late rhythm and blues singer Stevie Woods, bought the building in 2003 from the original owners and nicknamed it “Cheri Amour.”

Two years later, she opened the building to the public and offered self-guided audio tours of Morrison’s vacant apartment for $10. (There have been only two long-term tenants in that unit since his departure.) She even sold small vials of “Doors dirt” from the property’s landscape as souvenirs.

The building and units have received some updates since the '70s, such as a wrought-iron gate, laundry room and the addition of ceiling fans. However, much remains untouched. The units, which once totaled six before a conversion of two into one, are still outfitted with original oak floors, doors and bathroom wall tile — and no central air.

Each unit has at least two bedrooms and 1-¼ bathrooms. The property is a short walk from the Sunset Strip as well as Santa Monica Boulevard’s hip shopping and dining.

Because of the Morrison connection, Woods applied to have the building designated a Cultural Resource Designation in 2014 with plans to convert it into a bed-and-breakfast property. That process is ongoing with the city.

The existing tenants in the former rent-controlled property all have vacated, and some units in the building now are advertised for daily, weekly or monthly rentals. A monthlong furnished rental of Morrison’s former unit has an asking price of $3,000.

“[Woods] wanted to sell it empty so the new owner could do what they want with it,” says Peele of the timing of the listing. “Now, it’s a blank canvas.”