<P> The melody of the song was composed by Don Felder in a rented house on Malibu Beach . He recorded the basic tracks with a Rhythm Ace drum machine and added a 12 string guitar on a four - track recording deck in his spare bedroom , then mixed in a bassline , and gave Don Henley and Glenn Frey each a copy of the recording . Felder , who met the Eagles through his high school bandmate Bernie Leadon , said that Leadon advised him to make tapes of songs he wrote for the band so that other band members like Henley , whose forte is in writing lyrics , might work with him on finishing the songs they like . The demos he made were always instrumental , and on every album project he would submit 15 or 16 ideas . The demo he made for `` Hotel California '' showed influences from Latin and reggae music , and it grabbed the attention of Henley who said he liked the song that `` sounds like a Mexican reggae or Bolero '' , which gave the song its first working title , `` Mexican Reggae '' . </P>
where was the eagles song hotel california written
a rented house on Malibu Beach