The album's cover art was created by Kelley/Mouse, who had previously created artwork for the band's American Beauty,  Grateful Dead and  Europe '72 albums. The front depicts an actual San Francisco building, juxtaposed in an extraterrestrial landscape. The real Mars Hotel was a derelict flophouse, at 192 Fourth Street, that had been the temporary residence of Jack Kerouac and was previously used as a location in David Bowie's promotional film for "The Jean Genie". The working title for the album was "Ugly Roomers". Kreutzmann said it was "a self-deprecating dig at ourselves, but we changed it to 'rumors' out of respect to the boarders at the hotel."After another title change to From the Mars Hotel, the punning spelling "Ugly Rumors" was retained in stylized Aztecan text on the front cover, as rotated mirror writing. Original poster hand embellished by artist Judy Haas with Austrian crystals, diamond dust and other elements. 26.25 x 54.25