Hyperion Hotel

File:Hyperion.gif

Hyperion Hotel Exterior

The Hyperion Hotel was home base for Angel in the television series Angel during the middle seasons of the show. The gang moved into the Hyperion at the beginning of the second season, following the destruction of their offices in the finale of season one, "To Shanshu in L.A.".

History

In "Judgment", the first episode of season two, Angel discovers the dilapidated hotel while fleeing demons. Flashbacks in the following episode, "Are You Now or Have You Ever Been", reveal that he had lived there during the 1950s and, attacked by a McCarthyesque mob, abandoned the hotel's residents to a paranoia demon known as a Thesulac. In the present day, Angel frees the lone remaining inhabitant from the persistent demon; with this unfinished business finally closed, he decides to clean up the Hyperion and make it the new home of "Angel Investigations".

Angel Investigations was based in the hotel until the final episode of season four, "Home", after which they moved into the headquarters of Wolfram & Hart's Los Angeles branch. The hotel was also home for Angel, Lorne, Gunn, Fred & Connor, and occasionally harbored the group's other members and people they helped.

The Hyperion was last mentioned in season five, during the show's final episode, "Not Fade Away", in which Angel and his friends regroup in the alley north of the hotel for one final battle.

In the 9th issue of Angel: After the Fall, Angel and friends move back into the Hyperion hotel and make it their base of operations.

Hyperion Hotel Interior

Trivia

• The name Hyperion comes from Greek mythology and is considered synonymous with Helios the god of the Sun. There is no doubt some deliberate irony in having a vampire live inside a building associated with the Sun.

• In the episode "Carpe Noctem", we can clearly see Angel's business card, showing the address 1481 Hyperion Avenue.

• Exterior shots of the hotel were taken at the Los Altos Hotel & Apartments, at 4121 Wilshire Blvd. Some interior shots were done in Ambassador Hotel, according to DVD commentary about "Billy".

• Years before it served as his base of operations, Angel was a resident at the hotel in the 1950s in room 217.

• During the run of the remaining seasons, Angel's apartment number was 312.

Behind the scenes

Angel Production Designer Stuart Blatt described the new base: "An old hotel, something [the writers] could use to evoke the past of Los Angeles and some of Angel's history, something kind of creepy and spooky but not too dark because they didn't want something depressing, it's called the Hyperion Hotel. It's based on many hotels in Los Angeles...Angel lived in a larger suite in the hotel, like a honeymoon suite, the producers wanted Angel to have enough room to relax and get away from it all, do a little pondering, a little brooding, a little research. Every once in a while someone will come up to have a little conversation."

Also, a Hyperion Hotel is mentioned in "The Girl with the Curl", a second season episode of Bones, a show starring the actor who plays the Angel's titular character, David Boreanaz .