Cape West Apartments
The Cape West Apartments was an apartment complex located in downtown Los Angeles and was the residence of Kyle Hyde before its demolition in late 1980 / early 1981. It is the main setting of Last Window: The Secret of Cape West and was owned by the landlady Margaret Patrice.
History
The Cape West Apartments were built in 1950 as a hotel, Hotel Cape West and was run by its manager Michael McGrath. On the surface, the hotel was an exquisite venue however it was the main headquarters of Condor, a subsidary of the crime syndicate Nile. Condor specialised particularly in the theft and selling of expensive jewellery and was run by former saxophone player George Patrice, the late husband of Margaret Patrice, friend of McGrath and employee at the hotel. The exchange of the goods would take place during parties that took place at the hotel
Hotel Cape West
frequently. The jewellery would not be sold at the party itself, but rather in a secret chamber hidden between the fourth floor of the hotel and the roof.
In 1955, a safecracker had broken into the manager's office in search of a priceless diamond known as the Scarlet Star. He had successfully broken into the manager's safe and retrieved the jewel, and signalled his partners outside, or so he thought. As he did this, the manager, Michael McGrath returned to his office and shot dead the safecracker, where his body would be discovered three days later in a parking lot. This safecracker happened to be one Chris Hyde, the father of the main protagonist Kyle Hyde. It is his death that is the main premise of the events of Last Window: The Secret of Cape West.
The year 1967 saw the closure of Hotel Cape West. McGrath held a final party on the Hotel's final day. However the party ended in tragedy when McGrath's wife Kathy was murdered from being poisoned by George Patrice. Her body was discovered by Peter Rivet and Mike Porter, who were employees at the hotel. Michael later writes in his diary that he feels responsible for his wife's death as he had killed Chris Hyde 12 years prior.
Later Years
The former hotel was bought by Margaret Patrice just after her husband's death using the money he had left behind for her. She converted the hotel into apartments, calling the building the Cape West Apartments. She converted every floor apart from the fourth floor, which remained in the same state as it was as a hotel. Patrice installed a fire door just outside the corridor and prohibited any tenants from accessing the floor, apart from Dylan Fitchar who was assigned to perform maintenance tasks around the building and was given a set of spare keys to every room. Dylan allowed Kyle Hyde, who was searching for the Scarlet Star and the truth about his father's death, to investigate the floor, without Patrice's knowledge. Events lead up to Hyde finding the jewel and the truth, and the building was finally demolished in late 1980 / early 1981.