The Brief

Welcome to Spooky L.A., where over the next four days we’ll shine a flashlight on some hair-raising history and haunts across Los Angeles.

To that end, we called in some experts to help us understand the ghoulish history of L.A. For today’s debut, Hadley Meares takes us through Hollywood, where celebrity ghost sightings are both disturbing and good for business.

Why are we obsessed with Hollywood ghosts? 

It can be hard to part with loved ones in this life, and maybe that’s why we like to believe their spirit is sticking around. That can also ring true with celebrities we’ve connected with.

“I think we kind of create these stories to keep a piece of them to ourselves and feel like we can still have that exciting, personal relationship like when you get an autograph or spot a celebrity in the wild,” Meares said.

The holy grail of ghosts

Meares called one particular spirit the holy Grail of ghosts. Can you guess it?

I’ll give you a hint. Diamonds are this spirit’s best friend.

Yep. Marilyn Monroe.

Her story is a tragic one — dying at the young age of 36 from a fatal overdose inside her Brentwood home on Aug. 5, 1962.

Meares said Monroe is reported to be spotted often throughout L.A, from powder rooms to hotels.

“Marilyn has supposedly been seen sitting wistfully on a bench at the Hippodrome on the Santa Monica Pier. She’s said to be in a full length mirror, checking her face, at the Roosevelt Hotel where she’s also been seen dancing,” Meares said.

Other sightings of Monroe have been reported at the former Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel and in a mirror at the El Capitan Theatre. Meares said her favorite story of Marilyn sighting is at her final resting place.

“Marilyn is seen at her grave at the beautiful Westwood Memorial Cemetery, where they say that her tomb is sometimes surrounded by a delicate pink mist that you can see,” Meares said.

Where Rudolph Valentino's spirit likes to hang around 

Rudolph Valentino is another Hollywood star whose life was cut short at the age of 31. The Italian actor nicknamed "the Latin Lover" died of pleurisy on Aug. 23, 1926.

He’s been spotted at his mansion in Beverly Hills, called the Falcon Lair. The mansion is reportedly also haunted by a later resident, heiress Doris Duke.

“It’s said that socialite Millicent Rogers claimed that she was even chased out of Falcon Lair one night by Valentino's ghost,” Meares said.

Other places his ghost has reportedly frequented are the former Hollywood Knickerbocker hotel, his beach house on Hollywood Beach, Hotel Alexandra, the bathroom of Musso and Frank Grill, and his old apartment now called Valentino Place in Hollywood. He’s also been seen at Paramount Studios and the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where according to Meares, “the lady in black comes to pay her respects to him every year.”

Meares said not only does Valentino appear everywhere in Hollywood, but so does his furry friend.

“His beloved dog Kabar is also said to still be howling for his lost owner," Meares said, "both at Falcon Lair and at the fascinating Los Angeles Pet Cemetery, which is in Calabasas. And that is where Kabar is actually buried.”

That’s it for today’s top celebrity ghost stories. Check back in tomorrow as we explore the Cecil Hotel in downtown L.A. and the chilling and tragic case of Elisa Lam. You can read more about other top celebrity ghost sightings from Hadley Meares here.

A key document laying out how Olympics organizers will address human rights issues like civil rights, homelessness and human trafficking in the summer of 2028 has not been made public, despite a Dec. 31, 2025, deadline.

Talk of a boycott, fear about ICE agents, and concern about L.A.'s unhoused population have been swirling around preparations for the Olympic Games for months. But last week, some L.A. City Council members said at a committee meeting that they had not seen the report. Neither have local human rights advocates.

" It's just the lack of transparency," said Stephanie Richard, who leads an anti-trafficking initiative at Loyola Law School. "Why wouldn't the reports have been put out the day that they were provided?"

LA28, the private nonprofit putting on the Games, is responsible for creating a "Human Rights Strategy" in consultation with the city, according to a contract with Los Angeles. It was supposed to be completed by the end of 2025.

Spokespeople for LA28 say it has fulfilled its "obligation to the city" and that the organization is working with L.A. on next steps. When asked by LAist, city officials did not disclose who had seen the human rights document or what those next steps were.

Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson sets the agenda for the ad-hoc city council committee on the Olympic Games. But his office didn't respond to requests for comment on if he had seen the report. The mayor's office also did not return repeated requests for comment on who at the city has the Human Rights Strategy.

While advocates wait to see the report, some are concerned about what will be in it.

Richard with Loyola Law School said she participated in a call with LA28 to advise on the human rights strategy, but she was disheartened when there was no follow-up conversation.

" It feels like the human rights plans have always been very like big picture and nothing concrete," she said.

Richard also has her eye on the upcoming World Cup, which requires a human rights plan, too. She told LAist she wants to see LA28 and FIFA put money behind these efforts. She compiled her own report with a long list of suggestions ahead of the World Cup and Olympics, including the demand that both organizations negotiate with the federal government to ensure immigration enforcement doesn't conduct raids around sporting venues.

Catherine Sweetser, who directs a human rights litigation clinic at UCLA Law, has been researching the organizing committee's process in putting together its human rights strategy.

Sweetser said LA28 had not called public meetings about its approach to issues like homelessness, and had not to her knowledge engaged people who might be directly affected by the Olympic Games, like people living on the streets of Los Angeles.

"The only way that we're going to get real solutions is to listen to the people who are affected," she said. "And right now I don't see that happening with this human rights process."

LAist has also requested an interview LA28's senior human rights advisor, Julieta Valls Noyes.

A mid-week warming trend kicks off Tuesday, with temperatures expected to reach the low 90s in some valleys.

SoCal beaches will see temperatures from 73 to 79 degrees, with periods of low clouds in the morning. The inland coast and downtown L.A. will see highs of between 82 and 85 degrees.

The valley communities, including the Inland Empire, will see highs of up to 86 degrees, and up to 89 degrees in Coachella Valley. Meanwhile, the Antelope Valley could get up to 75 degrees.

The National Weather Service is also warning of windy conditions over the Santa Clarita Valley, where gusts could reach 35 mph in the afternoon.

The 2028 Olympic soccer final matches will take place at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, but earlier games will be played at stadiums across the U.S.

Those locations were announced Tuesday by the Olympics organizers. Stadiums in San Diego and San Jose in California will host Olympic soccer matches. So will New York City, Columbus, Nashville and St. Louis.

The venues outside of the L.A.-area will host group stage and knock-out matches in the Olympic tournament ahead of the final stage matches in Pasadena. The Games will allow fans from around the country to view Olympic competitions.

The additional stadiums where Olympic soccer matches will take place are:

• Etihad Park in New York City
• ScottsMiracle-Gro Field in Columbus, Ohio
• GEODIS Park in Nashville, Tennessee 
• Energizer Park in St. Louis, Missouri 
• PayPal Park in San Jose
• Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego

LA28 said in a news release that organizers "intentionally designed the tournament to include stadiums from the East Coast to West Coast to minimize travel demands."

Dates and locations for the women's and men's tournaments will be announced before ticket sales start in April.