river phoenix was staying at hotel nikko at beverly hills on la cienega the night he died--he had been at the hotel for about 2 months while filming the movie. the night of his deaths several friends partied in his hotel room prior to going to the viper room. the room was litered with drugs upon investigation after his death on sunset.

He'd been on location in Utah filming 'Dark Blood' and had returned to LA to shoot the interiors. He arrived on the Tuesday, filmed on the Friday and died on the Sunday morning. He'd only been in the hotel for 5 days max.