The castle on Sunset : life, death, love, art, and scandal at Hollywood's Chateau Marmont

Title:

Author:

Levy, Shawn, author.

Personal Author:

Levy, Shawn, author.

ISBN:

9780385543163

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

366 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plate : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cm

Contents:

Introduction -- The dream (1927-1932) -- A second birth (1932-1942) -- An identity emerges (1942-1963) -- Tumult and decay (1963-1975) -- Rescue and restoration (1975-1990) -- A golden age (1990-2019).

Abstract:

An apartment house-turned-hotel, Chateau Marmont is perched above the Sunset Strip like a fairytale castle. The Chateau has welcomed the most iconic and iconoclastic personalities in film, music, and media. And much of what's happened inside the Chateau's walls has eluded the public eye-- until now. Levy recounts the wild revelries and scandalous liaisons, the creative breakthroughs and marital breakdowns, the births and deaths that the Chateau has been a party to. The result is a glittering tribute to Hollywood as seen from inside the walls of its most hallowed hotel.

Corporate Subject:

Chateau Marmont (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- History.

Subject Term:

Celebrities -- California -- Los Angeles -- Biography.

Motion picture actors and actresses -- California -- Los Angeles -- Biography.

Geographic Term:

Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Biography.

Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- History -- 20th century.

Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Social life and customs -- 20th century.

Genre:

Biographies.

History.

Summary:

Holds:

Available:*

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Summary

The definitive--and salacious--history of the iconic hotel that Hollywood stars have called a home away from home for almost a century.

"Fascinating, dishy, and glimmering with insight.... This is the definitive book about Hollywood's most storied hotel." --Cheryl Strayed, bestselling author of Wild

Since 1929, Hollywood's brightest stars have flocked to the Chateau Marmont as if it were a second home. An apartment building-turned-hotel, the Chateau has been the backdrop for generations of gossip and folklore: where director Nicholas Ray slept with his sixteen-year-old Rebel Without a Cause star Natalie Wood; Jim Morrison swung from the balconies; John Belushi suffered a fatal overdose; and Lindsay Lohan got the boot after racking up nearly $50,000 in charges in less than two months.

But despite its mythic reputation, much of what has happened inside the Chateau's walls has eluded the public eye--until now. With wit and insight, Shawn Levy recounts the wild revelries and scandalous liaisons, the creative breakthroughs and marital breakdowns, the births and deaths to which the hotel has been a party. Vivid, salacious, and richly informed, The Castle on Sunset is a glittering tribute to Hollywood as seen from inside the walls of its most hallowed hotel.

Reviews (1)

Kirkus Review

The history of Hollywood plays out in the corridors and bedrooms of an iconic hotel.In his latest, biographer Levy (Dolce Vita Confidential: Fellini, Loren, Pucci, Paparazzi, and the Swinging High Life of 1950s Rome, 2016, etc.) turns to an inanimate subject as colorful and outrageous as some of the living subjects he's coverede.g., Paul Newman, Porfirio Rubirosa, and the Rat Pack. The author chronicles the history of the Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, suggesting that its story "parallels the story of Hollywood so thoroughly as to be inseparable from it." Levy's history is both staid and juicy. A lesser-known aspect of the history begins in 1926 when Fred Horowitz, a prominent attorney, envisioned an apartment building modeled on a French castle in the Loire Valley. Horowitz built an earthquake-proof structure of "pale stone, slate-gray gables, balconies, Gothic archways, and turrets." The denizens of Hollywood adored the place, making it, to this day, their own. Levy diligently details the effect on the hotel over the years of its different owners. Some nurtured the property while others saw it as part of a business deal. The place changed from an apartment to a hotel; it thrived, it turned seedy, and then, in the new millennium, morphed into a luxury hotel. What kept celebrities checking in was a staff that looked the other way. Leaning on previously published accounts, the author tells what went on at the discreet hideaway. Tony Perkins and Tab Hunter began a clandestine liaison at the hotel. Working on Rebel Without a Cause (one of many films developed on the premises), director Nicholas Ray had an affair with 16-year-old Natalie Wood. The most infamous event at the hotel occurred in 1982, when John Belushi died of a drug overdose in a hotel bungalow. The Marmont survived the scandal, and, in 2018, the tiniest room went for a price of $500 per night.A familiar but fun Hollywood tale. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.