The hotel is known as both a long- and short-term residence for celebrities[5][6][7][8][9] – historically "populated by people either on their way up or on their way down"[10] – as well as a home for New Yorkers in Hollywood.[11][12][13][14] The hotel complex has 63 rooms,suites, cottages, and 4bungalows.[7]
In 1926, Fred Horowitz,[15] a prominent Los Angeles attorney, chose the site at Marmont Lane andSunset Boulevard to construct an apartment building. Horowitz had recently traveled to Europe for inspiration and returned to California with photos of an ancientchâteau (theChâteau d'Amboise, whereLeonardo da Vinci is buried) located along theLoire River. In 1927, Horowitz commissioned his brother-in-law, European-trained architect Arnold A. Weitzman, to design the seven-story, L-shaped building based on his photos from France. When deciding upon a name for the building, Chateau Sunset and Chateau Hollywood were rejected in favor of Chateau Marmont, after the small street running in front of the property.[16]
On February 1, 1929, Chateau Marmont opened its doors to the public as the newest residence of Hollywood. Local newspapers described the Chateau as "Los Angeles's newest, finest and most exclusive apartment house [...] superbly situated, close enough to active businesses to be accessible and far enough away to ensure quiet and privacy." For the inaugural reception, over 300 people passed through the site, including local press.[17]
Due to the high rents and inability to keep tenants for long-term commitments during theGreat Depression, Horowitz sold the apartment building in 1931 toAlbert E. Smith, co-founder ofVitagraph Studios, for $750,000 in cash (equivalent to $15,510,000 in 2024).[18][19] Smith converted the building into a hotel, an investment which benefitted from the1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.[20] The apartments became suites with kitchens and living rooms. The property was also refurbished with antiques from Depression-era estate sales.[17] During the 1930s, the hotel was managed by former silent film actressAnn Little.[21]
DuringWorld War II, the hotel served as an air-raid shelter for residents in the surrounding area.[21] From about 1942 to 1963, the Chateau was owned by Erwin Brettauer,[22] a German banker who had funded films inWeimar Germany, and was noted for allowing Black guests, breaking the long-standing color line in Hollywood and Beverly Hills hotels.[23]
Designed and constructed to beearthquake-proof, Chateau Marmont survived major earthquakes in 1933, 1952, 1971, 1987, and 1994 without sustaining any major structural damage. Nine Spanish cottages, as well as a swimming pool, were built next to the hotel in the 1930s and were acquired by the hotel in the 1940s.Craig Ellwood designed two of the four bungalows in 1956, after he completedCase Study Houses.[24]
Business was good for the hotel,[25] although by the 1960s, the building was in disrepair, and the owners attempted to sell it multiple times.[26][27] News articles about the hotel from the 1960s and 1970s described it as an "elderly castle",[28] a "dowdy hotel",[8] "rundown",[29] and "shabby-genteel".[6]
Chateau Marmont in June 1988
After sitting on the market for two years, the hotel was sold in 1975 to Raymond R. Sarlot and Karl Kantarjian of Sarlot-Kantarjian, a real estate development firm, for $1.1 million.[9][13] Sarlot-Kantarjian planned to expand the hotel with a new wing.[2][3] They repaired and upgraded many elements of the hotel, but tried to stay true to the hotel's character and history.[9] In 1976, after their acquisition and improvements began, the Chateau was named aLos Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument.[1][9] InThe New York Times, writerQuentin Crisp praised the Chateau's "avoiding undue modernization and stayed deliberately in the romantic past."[30]
The hotel was acquired in 1990 byAndré Balazs.[31] Balazs needed to modernize the hotel while also preserving Chateau Marmont's character. For the restoration, Balazs strove to create the illusion that the hotel had been untouched, notwithstanding renovations. The entire facility was re-carpeted, repainted, and the public spaces were upgraded.[24][32]
To preserve the privacy of the hotel and bungalows, higher fences plus coverings were used to discourage the public from looking into the grounds.[citation needed]
On July 28, 2020, Chateau Marmont announced plans to convert to a members-only hotel, although at least one restaurant would remain open to the public.[33][34] These plans were withdrawn in 2022.[35]
On September 16, 2020,The Hollywood Reporter published a report involving accounts from more than thirty former hotel employees that accused the hotel's management and Balazs of fomentingracial discrimination andsexual harassment practices at the hotel; they also accused Balazs of neglecting to provide them with adequatehealth insurance during theCOVID-19 pandemic and suspected the hotel's members-only conversion as an attempt toprevent unionization among the hotel's employees.[36] Despite the denial of the allegations by the hotel management and Balazs, multipleemployment discrimination lawsuits were filed against the hotel, with the hotel facingpicketing from labor unionUNITE HERE and boycotts from numerous celebrities; in support of the boycott, a night shoot at the hotel forAaron Sorkin'sBeing the Ricardos was canceled just hours before the intended start of production.[37]
The hotel restaurant terrace features market-freshCalifornia cuisine from chef Dean Yasharian.[38] The restaurant Bar Marmont closed in 2017.[39]
In July 2018, Chateau Hanare, a new restaurant, opened in a former residential building on the eastern edge of the property.[40][41] Balazs had spent five years courting the restaurateur, Reika Alexander of New York City'sEN Japanese Brasserie.[41] It later closed without announcement.[42]
Memorial plaque at site ofHelmut Newton's accident, marking the spot where his car hit the wall
John Belushi died of a drug overdose in Bungalow 3 on March 5, 1982.[86][87] PhotographerHelmut Newton died on January 23, 2004, after suffering a heart attack and crashing his car when pulling out of the driveway.[43][88]
^Orwig, Gail; Orwig, Raymond (January 12, 2018).Where Monsters Walked: California Locations of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, 1925–1965. McFarland. p. 212.ISBN978-1-4766-2797-7.
^Long, Camilla (September 28, 2014). "Hooray for Hollywood?: Julianne Moore Gives a Tour de Force in the Overblown Satire Maps to the Stars".The Times. London (UK). p. 12.
^McFadden, Robert D. (March 6, 1982)."John Belushi, Manic Comic of TV and Films Dies".The New York Times.Archived from the original on December 17, 2009. RetrievedSeptember 25, 2007.John Belushi, the manic, rotund comedian whose outrageous antics and spastic impersonations on theSaturday Night Live television show propelled him to stardom in the 1970s, was found dead yesterday in a rented bungalow in Hollywood, where he had launched a film career in recent years.
^McKinley, Jesse (January 24, 2004)."Helmut Newton, Who Remade Fashion Photography, Dies at 83".The New York Times.Archived from the original on May 26, 2023. RetrievedMay 14, 2011.Helmut Newton, the prolific, widely imitated fashion photographer whose provocative, erotically charged black-and-white photos were a mainstay of Vogue and other publications, died yesterday after a car crash in Hollywood. He was 83. The Los Angeles police told The Associated Press that Mr. Newton lost control of his Cadillac after leaving the Chateau Marmont Hotel and climbed up a wall across the street. He died at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the agency reported.
Levy, Shawn (2019).The Castle on Sunset: Life, Death, Love, and Art at Hollywood's Chateau Marmont. New York: Doubleday.ISBN978-0-385-54316-3.
Sarlot, Raymond R.; Basten, Fred E. (1987).Life at the Marmont: The Inside Story of Hollywood's Legendary Hotel of the Stars – Chateau Marmont. Santa Monica, Calif.: Roundtable.ISBN978-0-915677-23-8.
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