Sadly the Baltimore's ghost sign is no more. (OK...maybe not technically a ghost sign, as the building is still a hotel, but......)
replaced by this mural.
Let's see......older Asian woman, peering over her glasses......
So Mr Artiste.......what, uhhhhh, EXACTLY is this supposed to represent? What does it connote? I am not a hipster-doofus, and therefore do not immediately grasp the subtleties....
Is she watching the neighborhood? Ever-vigilant to aberrant behavior? If so, I wish her the best.....she has her work cut out for her. I'm sure the amount of criminal activity that has taken place over the years on that stretch of 5th between Main and Los Angeles could fill a ream of police blotters.
http://brixandtrix.blogspot.com/2012/02/haltimore.html
P.S. -----
The Yelp review of The Baltimore is hilarious. (You'll have to look up Fifi towel on your own, as I did. Same with carpet farmers.)
This place is a GREAT place to hole up for a week and smoke crack like the world is going to end tomorrow! Half of Los Angeles' sex offenders and violent criminals can be found living here -- really great if you need advice on how to construct your very own Fifi towel, how to kill someone with a pair of car keys, or if you're into IVing cheap, sludgy heroin and need tips on how muscle it in even the most abscessed limb.
Entomologists shall delight at the garden of roaches, bedbugs, lice, chiggers and other assorted invertebrates that blanket the walls of this manor. Shag carpets in the hallway are surprisingly clean... but that could be because of all the random carpet farmers you'll see scrounging around down there, at the foot of their doors, picking away to keep them clean. Who needs a vaccuum? Neighbors are friendly, if exuberant -- especially the ladies! -- kicking in your door at 2am, offering companionship at rock bottom prices.
Wow! And the concierge service.... I have never had my keys and ID shoved at me so fast underneath a bulletproof glass window before. What efficiency!
AND the best part is, it's dirt cheap!!! So you can save some money when you walk a few blocks over to your fancy-pants dinner at Cicada. I love Downtown Los Angeles!