Built in 1927-1929, the Chateau Marmont is located on Marmont Lane and Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. A prominent Los Angeles lawyer, Fred Horowitz, had chosen the site. Horowitz had travelled to Europe and been inspired by the Chateau d'Amboise, a Royal Retreat in the Loire Valley in France. The Chateau d'Amboise had once been home to Mary Queen of Scots, and was believed to be the final resting place of Leonardo da Vinci. In 1927, using photographs of the Gothic-style Chateau d'Amboise, Horowitz asked his brother-in-law, architect Arnold A Weitzman, about designing the Chateau Marmont. The Chateau Marmont was designed in Norman Revival style by architect and designer William Douglas Lee. Responsible for the design of several iconic Los Angeles buildings, Lee was engaged in a lawsuit with Horowitz over fees for the Chateau's design. Lee won the lawsuit.
The seven-storey L-shaped building was originally going to be called Chateau Sunset, then Chateau Hollywood, until it was decided it would be called Chateau Marmont in honour of the small street it was partly situated on. Chateau Marmont opened its doors on February 1st 1929, with over 300 people passing through it at its inaugural reception. It was a new residence in Hollywood, and the newspapers described the Chateau as the 'newest, finest and most exclusive residence in Los Angeles'.
During the depression the high rents saw a reduction in the number of residents, and Horowitz sold the property for $750,000 cash to Albert E Smith. In 1931, Chateau Marmont became a hotel, with the apartments becoming suites. The entire property was refurbished. The Chateau Marmont was managed in the 1930s by silent-era film star Ann Little. In the 1940s, nine Spanish cottages were built next to the hotel as well as four new bungalows, two of which were designed by Craig Ellwood. A hotel pool was also added. Ellwood was an influential modernist. An untrained architect, he was professionally recognised for his fusion of the formalism of Mies van der Rohe's modernism and the less formal Californian style. During the 1940s, the hotel served as an air raid shelter for the surrounding area.
By the 24th of March 1976, the Chateau Marmont was officially recognised as one of Los Angeles' Historical-Cultural Landmarks. The Chateau Marmont was designed to be earthquake-proof, and has survived many large earthquakes over the years. In 1990, the Chateau Marmont Hotel was acquired by Andre Balazs. A Bostonian, Balazs owns properties across the United States, including a portfolio of hotels. Balazs updated the hotel, strictly adhering to its original form. The entire building was re-carpeted and repainted, and the public areas were upgraded.
The Chateau Marmont Hotel was notorious for its reputation as a place for famous people to misbehave. This had its beginnings in the 1930s, when the Motion Picture Code and the Purity Seal of 1934 were introduced. The Code was designed to control what was shown in films, while the Purity Seal dictated the behaviour expected from movie industry workers off-screen. It's said that the then-head of Columbia Pictures, Harry Cohn, once said to his stars, William Holden and Glenn Ford, "if you must get into trouble, do it at the Chateau Marmont." The thick walls, the discreet and protective staff, and the private entries, all made the Chateau Marmont a popular destination for those wanting to engage in behaviour that may not be deemed 'appropriate'.
Clark Gable and Jean Harlow were said to have had a tryst in the hotel while she was on her honeymoon there. Harlow reportedly would hang a sign on her door saying 'gone fishing', meaning she was out on Sunset Strip looking for a handsome young model to seduce. Nicholas Ray was rumoured to have been having an affair with underage actress Natalie Wood. James Dean famously jumped through Nicholas Ray's bungalow window in an attempt to get a part in the movie Rebel Without A Cause. Another member of the Rebel Without A Cause cast, Dennis Hopper, hung around the Chateau and eagerly filmed orgies which sometimes involved up to fifty girls.
Howard Hughes spent months in the Chateau Marmont, and it was reported that he would spy on the girls in the pool from his room. Elizabeth Taylor, after saving Montgomery Clift's life following an automobile accident, nursed him back to health at the Chateau Marmont. Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski lived in the Chateau in 1968. Jim Morrison lived at the Chateau in 1970, and much of the Oliver Stone film The Doors was filmed there. Morrison apparently fell from the drain pipe of the hotel, injuring himself. In the 1960s, the drummer from Led Zeppelin drove his motorbike through the foyer of the hotel.
On March 5th 1982, actor and comedian John Belushi was found dead in Bungalow 3. Belushi had been partying with friends Robert de Niro and Robin Williams, among others. He returned to his bungalow and, with the assistance of his girlfriend, took a mixture of cocaine and heroin. The drug cocktail proved to be lethal to the 33-year-old.
On January 23rd 2004, photographer and resident of Chateau Marmont, Helmut Newton, died when he crashed his car into the driveway wall. Both Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears have been evicted from the Chateau, Lohan for unpaid bills and Spears for smearing food on her face in front of other guests. Rocker Billy Idol reportedly trashed a room when truffle oil was put on his chips and not beside them.
Many famous people lived and created work at, or about, the Chateau Marmont. Billy Wilder, who said of the Chateau that he would live in a bathroom there rather than in any other hotel, apparently did exactly that on occasion. The aspiring director lived in the bathroom when his roommate, Peter Lorre, actor and drug addict, became too over-zealous. Dorothy Parker lived at the Chateau with a man twenty years her junior. Jay McInerney wrote his screenplay for Bright Lights, Big City, there. F. Scott Fitzgerald also stayed at the Chateau, and there are conflicting reports as to whether he had a heart attack in the hotel or across the street at a cigarette store. Hunter S Thompson, Annie Leibovitz and Tim Burton have all stayed at the Chateau Marmont. Heath Ledger was filmed snorting cocaine in the hotel foyer. Charles Bukowski mentions the Chateau Marmont in his work 'Hollywood', and the Grateful Dead song 'West LA Fadeaway' is set in the iconic hotel. Some people believe that the Chateau Marmont was the inspiration for the Eagles song 'Hotel California'.
With its colourful history, it's no surprise that the Chateau Marmont has many reports of paranormal phenomena. In 1999, a family moved into Bungalow 3 whilst their home was undergoing renovations. During their stay at the Chateau Marmont, their two-year-old boy started laughing and giggling at what seemed to be nothing. When asked what was making him laugh, he simply said that the funny man was. One day, the child's mother was reading a book about the Chateau Marmont and came to a picture of John Belushi, at which point her two-year-old pointed and said "the funny man". John Belushi isn't the only famous person said to haunt the Chateau. Boris Karloff, who lived with his wife in the Chateau for seven years, Howard Hughes, Marilyn Monroe and Jim Morrison are all said to haunt the hotel. An author researching a book he was writing about the Doors decided to stay in the same place as Jim Morrison. He was awoken one night by the sounds of a party. Still sleepy, he went to the window to see where the noise was coming from, only to realise it was actually coming from the room he was in.
Room 79 in the Chateau Marmont is also said to be a highly active room for paranormal phenomena. There have been ghostly sightings in the room, furniture moving, and even a floating head outside the window. A woman staying at the Chateau Marmont also reported that, while she was laying in bed, she heard the window open and then felt someone get into bed with her. When she looked, no-one was in the bed beside her, but the window was open when it hadn't been before.
I have spent a lot of time in LA, and I find the Chateau Marmont Hotel such an interesting place, both architecturally and because of its fascinating and very colourful history.
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