Located in downtown Cleveland from 1967 to 1984, Swingos Celebrity Inn had a reputation as the place where rock bands went to party. In saying that the place should receive the award for “the Hotel that Had Been Privy to the Most Debauchery,” The Guardian has this to say about the hotel: “Swingos’ notorious reputation began in earnest when Elvis sashayed into the unprepossessing hotel having booked more than 100 rooms over three floors. By the time the King checked out, with a $20,000 bill, the hotel’s fate had been decided. With bated breath, the hotel later welcomed the Who’s Keith Moon, who checked in dressed as a cop before handcuffing two strangers together. Of its reputation, Mott the Hoople’s Ian Hunter said: ‘Swingos was a place you remember checking in and out of, but you can’t remember anything in between.’
Now, Cleveland-based River Valley Films is raising money to make a documentary about the joint. The filmmakers have already snagged interviews with former owners Jim and Matt Swingos as well with celebs such as Southside Johnny and Michael Stanley. A Kickstarter campaign is up and running and the “gifts” appropriately include a “Swingos Have You Slept There Lately?” vintage tee at the $50 level and dinner with the filmmakers and Jim Swingos himself at the $1,000 level.
Most recently, River Valley Films produced Foi et Joie, a documentary about the earthquake in Haiti that won best Ohio documentary at Chagrin Documentary Film Festival in 2012. “We’re a Cleveland company, and we’re excited to tell stories that are meaningful to Cleveland’s history and the present day,” says filmmaker Andrew Marquard in a press release. “We believe that the Swingos Celebrity Inn helped make Cleveland a Rock and Roll City in the 70s and 80s. This Rock and Roll identity is a heritage we celebrate today with the Rock Hall and the current music scene, so it’s great to pay tribute to such an influential part of that history.” The film should be out in late 2015.
This article appears in Dec 24-30, 2014.
My mom and grandma worked there. My grandma stayed until it closed.
I worked there as a daytime cashier in the restaurant when I first got out of high school until I landed a real job.
I worked at Swingos as a Front Office Manager. It was a great job and I met a lot of rock stars. Every year they would show up and I would have their rooming list and keys ready for them. The rock stars all had fake names, some of which were pretty clever. I remember those days well and they were good memories. When the movie “Almost Famous” came out, my friends called me and said the gal who was at the front desk looked like me. It was funny.
I love everything about Swingos, it’s history, and the promise of this project. However, any mention of, or association with Michael Stanley is a major downer due to his complete irrelevance outside of brainwashed Cleveland. I am a Cleveland native, who lives on the west coast, and previously lived on the east coast. No one knows who Michael Stanley is, and the hook for this movie nationwide will be the REAL famous people who were involved. Stanley dimishes the project, he does not enhance it.
Any of you know who Tommy Conwell and the Young Rumblers are?
Exactly, you don’t because he was an almost celebrity from Philly who never made it big.