![]() Located in the heart of West Hollywood on the Sunset Strip, the Chateau Marmont planted its flag at 8221 Sunset Boulevard decades before nearby celebrity haunts like the Mondrian and the Standard Hollywood showed up a half-mile down the road. Oyster's advice? Book a room at the London West Hollywood and head to Bar Marmont to satisfy your urge to sight a celebrity. One of the best, most spacious rooms in all of L.A. But you'll find a better standard room almost anywhere else in West Hollywood. You can't put a price tag on celebrity sightings. Tourists are paying for the cachet of staying at one of the most storied hotels in the world. With the exception of minor renovations, rooms haven't been redone since 1990. But the standard rooms are small (300 square feet) and shabby (stained carpets, grime around the baseboards), with an outdated bathroom - and overall a letdown. So the quality of the 62 other rooms, suites, cottages, or bungalows can't be vouched for. Oyster wasn't allowed in to photograph any room other than our own, nor did the hotel allow us to take photographs inside the hotel (other than the few that were snuck with a small camera). ![]() As Philip Truelove, a former manager at the Chateau (and current manger of Robert DeNiro's Greenwich Hotel in New York City) told Entertainment Weekly in 1992, "This is not a hotel for tourists." And 20 years later, that still holds true - this is a hotel for celebrities, celebrity voyeurs, and connoisseurs of celebrity life. But the Chateau can prove to be one of the most overrated hotels in L.A. They're drawn to its history, its distressed décor, and the air of exclusivity that pervades every nook and cranny. Those who love the Chateau tend to be part of the Hollywood tribe. While there's no debating that the Chateau is an icon, it's not a hotel for ordinary people. Scott Fitzgerald had a heart attack here, and members of Led Zeppelin rode motorcycles through the lobby. Former residents include Greta Garbo, Robert DeNiro, and Lindsay Lohan. Loosely modeled after a chateau in France's Loire Valley, this temple of romance and hedonism has a history as thick as the stains on its carpets. ![]() As Harry Cohn, founder of Columbia Pictures, famously told screen legends William Holden and Glenn Ford, "If you're going to get in trouble, do it at the Chateau Marmont." With its faded oriental rugs, velvet couches, beveled mirrors, and brass candelabras, the atmosphere is brooding and nostalgic, as discreet as it is decadent. Perched on a hill overlooking Sunset Boulevard, the Chateau Marmont has been a bastion of old Hollywood - and a way of life for many a celebrity - since it opened in 1929.
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