Change checks in at a skid row hotel

Cordova hired a security firm for the Cecil to replace guards who had carried chemical Mace, handcuffs and batons.

The new guards wear crisp blue blazers and dark khakis, carrying only a walkie-talkie and badge.

"These suits have gotten us a lot of respect from the public," said Brandon Foster, head of security at the hotel. "It's a lot less threatening when we approach people."

Cordova said that before he purchased the Cecil it was a haven for drug dealers, who would move in for a month and rent rooms for their clients to smoke and shoot up.

"Paramedics were always showing up," Cordova said. "It was just ridiculous."

To make room for new clientele, Cordova worked closely with the Los Angeles Police Department, giving officers access to the hotel and residents that he said previous owners had denied.

Foster said it boiled down to "getting a lot of knuckleheads out of here."

Capt. Jodi Wakefield of the LAPD's Central Division remembers that when she began her job downtown three years ago, there were frequent calls to the Cecil -- most involving drugs and prostitution.

"Now the Cecil very rarely comes across my desk as a concern," Wakefield said. "They have been very receptive to our requests, and it seems to be working."

Cordova described his new, hypothetically "perfect" customer as a middle-class tourist looking to stay downtown inexpensively.

That means he's going to have to persuade people such as 24-year-old Nicole Jackson, who was in L.A. recently to see the Spice Girls kick off their reunion tour at Staples Center.

"My friend and I needed a cheap place to stay," Jackson said after getting out of an airport shuttle in front of the Cecil. "I didn't really want to stay here because of the area . . . but I went on Hotwire and put in the price and was stuck."

She was visiting from Columbus, Ohio, where she is a graduate student in history, and said the Cecil reminded her of the bohemian youth hostels she encountered while traveling in Europe, with communal showers and bathrooms, and prevalent drugs and alcohol.

After checking in, she settled for a pre-made cold turkey sandwich from the cafe below, smoked a cigarette and looked around.

Jackson said she was pleasantly surprised when she entered the hotel, but changed her mind after she went up to her room.

"The entranceway is unbelievably amazing, and then I turned the corner and was like, 'whoa!' " she said.