Allen died at the Jack Tar Hotel in San Francisco, California, on June 11, 1970, at the age of 59.[26] He died after a heavy drinking binge.[2] Don Stewart, his successor, was accused of attempting "to clean up evidence of his mentor's alcoholic binge in a San Francisco hotel before the police arrived".[27] Stewart says he was not trying to cover up anything but was trying to protect Allen.[27] Nonetheless, police found his body in a "room strewn with pills and empty liquor bottles".[28]