As Louder Sound reports, when the Eagles were putting together the pieces that would become "Hotel California" (the album), Don Henley was thinking about the artwork. The musician wanted the visuals to convey "faded glory, loss of innocence and decadence." British art director Kosh, who had previously worked with the Beatles (he designed the famous cover art for "Abbey Road"), took the assignment and ran with it. "Don wanted me to find and portray the Hotel California -– and portray it with a slightly sinister edge," he said.
That brought him and another photographer to the Beverly Hills Hotel, and the two men then sat in a cherry picker, 60 feet above the city streets, waiting for the exact moment when the sun and the hotel lined up perfectly. So convincing was the shot that even people who had been to the hotel –- which in normal circumstances is bright and airy and inviting –- didn't recognize it. "We were in the business of creating fantasies. And that's what it is," he said.
As for the back cover: That was taken at a completely different LA-area location (a flophouse at the time known as The Lido, according to Feel Numb). The people are merely friends of the band and contrary to rumor, none of them include Anton LaVey. Indeed, as Snopes reports, the figure widely believed to be the famed Satanist was actually a woman.
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