The Chateau Marmont

Looming eerily in the hills above Sunset Blvd is a French inspired hotel called the Chateau Marmont. Built in 1929 as a luxury apartment building by LA attorney Fred Horowitz The Chateau Marmont was a great idea at just the wrong time. The building's opening and the depression were just too close together for Horowitz to make a go of the building so he sold it off to an apartment manager named Albert E. Smith. Smith then bought a bunch of European antiques that had also hit the market and turned the apartment building in to a hotel. It was finally popular. Hollywood celebrities liked it as it was convenient to the studios and private enough to keep out fans.
During Hollywood's golden age The Chateau Marmont was all the rage. It became a celebrity hot spot with people like Greta Garbo, Carole Lombard and Errol Flynn calling it home. The Chateau Marmont's hey day like all things didn't last and the hotel started to become a bit more run down. During the 1960's it was "discovered" by the rock and roll crowd and became known as a wild spot. People Jim Morrison, John Lennon and Yoko Ono were guests. By the time the 70's came it was thought of as kind of a dive and dumpy. This is the spot where John Belushi died of a drug over dose.
In 1990 the building was sold again to hotel magnate Andre Balazs. It was given a full renovation and a new life. Today it is once again a hot spot for a new group of celebrities with room prices ranging from $170 to $1200 a night. It is now the place to run into Keanu Reeves, Johnny Depp or maybe even a drunken Lindsay Lohan.