"Are You Now or Have You Ever Been" is episode 2 of season 2 in the television show Angel. Written by Tim Minear and directed by David Semel, it was originally broadcast on October 3, 2000, on the WB network. In the episode, Angel (David Boreanaz) recalls a traumatic experience during the 1950s at the Hyperion Hotel. The episode is a fan favorite and was also a personal favorite of actor David Boreanaz. Writer Tim Minear said it was personally enjoyable for him to write the episode, even though he normally preferred writing longer story arcs that gradually unfolded over the course of an entire season. Plot Angel asks Wesley and Cordelia to look into the mysterious history of the abandoned Hyperion Hotel. A photograph of the hotel blends into an action shot of the hotel exterior during the 1950s, as the manager sends the bellhop upstairs to give the guest in 217 his weekly bill. The bellhop nervously makes his delivery, then runs downstairs, as Angel- the feared occupant of 217 -opens the door. As the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings blare on a TV, Angel strolls through the lobby and the manager turns away an African-American family, telling them that (despite what their sign says) the hotel has no vacancies. On the second floor, heading towards his room, he observes a man banging on a door. In the background, two men share a furtive romantic moment outside a room door. Back in his room, Angel finds a woman pretending to be a maid. When Angel calls her bluff, she tells him that she's hiding from her boyfriend, the man earlier seen banging on a door. Angel helps her hide from him, smashing the door in his face when the man pulls a gun. In the present, Angel visits the now-abandoned Hyperion. While doing research with Wesley, Cordelia discovers that the property is a historical landmark, but that it has been plagued by strange events since it was built. Cordelia then spots Angel in a 1952 photograph of the hotel lobby, and Wesley realizes that Angel has a personal connection to the Hyperion. In 1952, the salesman in the room next to Angel's listens to a record, talks to someone unseen, then holds a gun to his head. Angel hears a gunshot and the record skipping, and drinks his glass of chilled blood without reacting. When the manager and