A Gothic Retreat on Sunset Boulevard

Perched above Sunset Boulevard, watching over Los Angeles, the Chateau Marmont opened in 1929 as a luxury apartment building before being transformed into a hotel in 1931. Designed by architect William Douglas Lee and inspired by the Château d’Amboise in France, its medieval French Gothic silhouette is unlike anything else in Hollywood.

Through earthquakes, recessions, and radical shifts in culture, the Chateau has endured. Its eccentric architecture and secluded atmosphere attracts the creative and the curious. It offers something no studio lot or publicity tour can: the illusion of anonymity – the comfort of discretion.

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Legends, Liaisons, and Late Nights

If The Beverly Hills Hotel is about polished glamour, the Chateau Marmont is about whispered stories. It's the hotel where Greta Garbo hid from fame, where Jim Morrison dangled from a balcony, where Lindsay Lohan was banned and later forgiven. It was here that John Belushi died in Bungalow 3 in 1982, turning the Chateau into a symbol of both Hollywood’s sparkling seduction and its dark underbelly.

Despite its reputation for debauchery, it has also been a sanctuary. Sofia Coppola set her film Somewhere within its moody interiors. Hunter S. Thompson used it as a writing refuge. F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker, and Jean Harlow all made themselves at home within its walls. Its ability to play host to both solitary and scandalous figures has made it one of the most fascinating backdrops in the Hollywood mythos.

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From Runway to Reverence

Like any great icon, the Chateau Marmont has inspired countless creatives. In 2018, Gucci staged a party at the hotel to celebrate its Pre-Fall collection, transforming the hotel into a haven of maximalist fantasy. Campaigns from Saint Laurent, Tom Ford, and Balmain have all used the Chateau as both backdrop and metaphor. Its style, moody, mysterious, seductive, embodies the same duality that fashion seeks to emulate.

Even Assouline, known for chronicling the world’s most exclusive spaces, published Chateau Marmont: The Life, the Times, the Hotel, a glamorous visual biography capturing decades of celebrity, creativity, and chaos. Every collaboration, every editorial, every late-night rendezvous adds to its mythology.

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An Enduring Icon

With its blend of theatrical charm, elusive elegance, and undeniable star power, the Chateau Marmont endures as a testament to the Hollywood mythos. In a city obsessed with reinvention, the Chateau’s refusal to change adds to its timeless appeal. And in a culture constantly looking for what’s next, it reminds us that things at the peak of their powers remain that way by staying exactly as they are.

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