HOTEL CALIFORNIA

Hotels are one of my absolute loves-- parties, pools, and silver are all better when they are the hotel version. (Like the way that parties, rings, and hours are all better when they are the cocktail version.) I fully intend to live in a hotel at some point in my life-- with the comfy beds, lovely staff, and room service, nothing bad could ever happen to you within the secure and beautiful walls of a great hotel. When I got homesick away at college, I would go to the hotel my parents stayed at while in town, plop in front of the grand hearth, and order the dinner I usually ate with them. Now my parents are looking into temporary housing in Los Angeles, and I am trying (unsuccessfully) to convince them to follow in the footsteps of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall and take bungalows at the Chateau. Although they will probably opt for something more "practical", I am continuing my dream of being a permanent hotel resident... at least for a while.

Hotels are the stuff of stories, of mini dramas, a world unto themselves - we leave our lives behind and become who we want to be. Arriving at Chateau Marmont you surrender yourself to a grandi-loquent environment, an infamous hideaway and the perfect getaway in the center of one of the world's most exciting cities. And when the dusk of evening settles, put on some smoky jazz and get lost - sink into the aphrodisiac of the deep couches, take your paramour on an elevator ride - at night everyone comes to Chateau Marmont - this is the pageant and parade that evening brings, they come for the martini, for the sex appeal, to make the deal--naughty or nice, everyone is your darling. You feel the heat, the sweat, the late night lust that is LA. This is the place you can most be yourself and it is the only grand hotel you can call home. 

- A. M. Holmes

Jean Harlow was a regular at the Chateau Marmont in 1933, when she had an affair with Clark Gable at the same time as she was honeymooning with her third husband, the cinematographer Harold Rosson. Legend has it that she would leave "gone fishing" messages at the front desk, which meant she had gone to pick up men.Greta Garbo would stay at the Marmont for weeks at a time during her notorious periods of seclusion, going for days without leaving her room, which added further intrigue to the life of the elusive and private film star. (Independent UK)

Raquel Welch in her bungalow garden of the Chateau.

Led Zepplin after riding their Harleys through the lobby.

Photo by Terry Richardson at the pool

"If you're going to get into trouble, do it at the Chateau Marmont."

- Harry Cohn, 1939