Chateau Marmont
a 1929 building copied from the Château d’Amboise, above the Sunset Strip, where the operator bans photographs and lets sixty-three keys
The place
On a promontory above the Sunset Strip, a reinforced concrete silhouette drawn in 1927 after the Château d’Amboise overlooks the boulevard: seven floors, a pool, cottages grouped around a courtyard and bungalows clinging to the slope.
The rate stays high: from 690 USD a night according to KAYAK. The building wears its patina openly, with several Tripadvisor reviews finding the bathrooms dated. Valet parking is charged at 65 USD before tax, according to the operator’s terms.
An apartment building that became a hotel almost by accident
According to Wikipedia (English and French versions), the lawyer Fred Horowitz bought a plot along Sunset Boulevard in 1926 and brought back from a trip to Europe photographs of the Château d’Amboise, in the Loire valley. In 1927 he commissioned his brother-in-law, the architect Arnold A. Weitzman, to design an L-shaped seven-storey building; William Douglas Lee became the lead architect. The MICHELIN Guide, in an article published on 28 November 2022, states that the initial project had 43 apartments, with double-poured concrete walls, earthquake-resistant and soundproofed. It opened on 1 February 1929.
The 1929 crash emptied the building. Horowitz sold it on to Albert E. Smith, co-founder of Vitagraph, for 750,000 USD according to Wikipedia, and the conversion into a hotel came in 1931: the apartments became rooms, some with a kitchen and living room, which explains the range of floor areas. The French Wikipedia records a listing as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument on 24 March 1976. André Balazs bought the property in 1990.
On the number of keys, sources diverge, including within the operator’s own booking system: the long description announces “62 accommodations”, the short one “63”. Wikipedia and Tripadvisor settle on sixty-three. The official booking engine displays ten categories: Queen Bedroom (28 m², 2 guests), Studio Suite, Hillview Suite (79 m²), One Bedroom Suite (84 m²), Premiere One Bedroom Suite (91 m²), Garden Cottage (56 m²), Premiere Garden Cottage (65 m²), Two Bedroom Suite (4 guests), One Bedroom Penthouse and Hillside Two Bedroom Bungalow (139 m², 4 guests).
A pool, cottages under the banana plants and one rule that is not negotiable
According to the operator’s description in its booking engine, the suites in the main building are furnished in a “Golden-era Hollywood” register, with terraces and views over the Sunset Strip. The Poolside Garden Cottages are grouped around a landscaped courtyard adjoining the pool, reached by a private street entrance, in an Arts and Crafts vocabulary. The hillside bungalows are attributed to Craig Ellwood — the operator writes “Craig Elwood”, a misspelling by the standard of Wikipedia, which dates two bungalows by that architect to 1956.
The official site amounts to a home page: it sends rooms to reservations.chateaumarmont.com, the restaurant to a Resy entry that does not name the establishment, and an online shop. Wikipedia states that Bar Marmont closed in 2017 and that the Japanese restaurant Chateau Hanare, opened in July 2018, closed without announcement. The Hollywood Reporter noted in December 2023 the arrival of a new culinary director, Jonathan Kinsella.
The extras are documented in the operator’s terms: valet parking 65 USD before tax, extra bed 50 USD, cot 50 USD, a non-refundable charge of 250 USD for a pet, arrival from 4pm and departure by 11am. Cancellation is due 48 hours before arrival for a room, 72 hours for a suite. Above all, article 8 of the terms prohibits “photography, filming, livestreaming, influencer content and any monetised content” without prior written consent, on pain of cancellation without refund, eviction and a ban from affiliated properties. The French Wikipedia has long described staff preventing the use of cameras.
The Sunset Strip at its feet, and a property emerging from six years of crisis
The address is 8221 Sunset Boulevard. One point to watch on the geography: the operator presents itself as being in “West Hollywood” in its metadata, but the postal address is Los Angeles, CA 90046, and Tripadvisor places the property in the Hollywood Hills West neighbourhood, in Los Angeles. The plot adjoins the Sunset Strip, the stretch of Sunset Boulevard that historically fell under a jurisdiction separate from the Los Angeles police, which explains, according to Wikipedia, the place’s reputation as a closed circle from the 1930s onwards.
Two deaths marked the property, according to Wikipedia: John Belushi, on 5 March 1982, of an overdose in bungalow 3; Helmut Newton, on 23 January 2004, in a car accident as he left the driveway. Penthouse 54, where Glenn Ford and William Holden entertained, is cited by the French Wikipedia as one of the most requested spaces.
Recent developments are first of all industrial. On 28 July 2020, Balazs announced a conversion into a private club. On 16 September 2020, The Hollywood Reporter published an investigation based on more than thirty former employees, alleging racial discrimination, sexual harassment and management failures; the property disputed it. Civil claims followed, as did a boycott supported by public figures. Staff unionised in August 2022 with UNITE HERE Local 11 and ratified a first agreement in December 2022: an immediate 25% rise for non-tipped employees, 25 USD an hour for housekeepers with less than a year’s service, free family health cover from 60 hours a month. In December 2023, The Hollywood Reporter quoted Balazs abandoning the private club project.
What to take away
- The 1929 facade, crenellated tower and mullioned windows, modelled on the Château d’Amboise.
- The Garden Cottages grouped around a courtyard, with wooden floors and stained glass, according to the operator.
- The 139 m² Hillside bungalow, two bedrooms, a working fireplace and a private carport.
- The terrace of the One Bedroom Penthouse, open to the city and the hills.
The number of keys is not stable: the operator’s booking engine writes “62” in its long description and “63” in its short one; Wikipedia and Tripadvisor settle on sixty-three. Rates also diverge by channel, from 690 USD on KAYAK to 707.60 USD including taxes on Mr & Mrs Smith, while Tripadvisor quotes 858 to 2,199 USD for a standard room. The extras add up quickly: 65 USD for valet parking before tax, 250 USD non-refundable for a pet, 50 USD per extra bed. Noise is a real issue, with several Tripadvisor reviews reporting traffic on Sunset Boulevard audible from the cottages, and the same channel mentions dated bathrooms. House policy is strict and written down: article 8 of the terms prohibits photography, filming and monetised content without written consent, with sanctions extending to eviction without refund. On the controversies, the investigation published by The Hollywood Reporter on 16 September 2020, based on more than thirty former employees, alleged racial discrimination and sexual harassment; the property disputed it, civil claims were settled and a first union agreement was ratified in December 2022. Finally, a correction is needed on a point that is often repeated: the sources consulted document no employee-owned cooperative hotel project announced in 2020. What was announced on 28 July 2020, and reported by Variety, Time Out and The Wall Street Journal, is a conversion into a private club whose ownership would be shared among members through property shares, a project abandoned according to The Hollywood Reporter in December 2023. Any partial transfer of ownership to employees remains, to date, without a source.
We have not stayed at this property. This entry is written from verified sources, including the operator's own website, rather than from a visit.
Practical information
The operator’s booking system states 12 miles from Los Angeles International, about 19 km, and 9 miles from Burbank, about 14 km. These values are straight-line distances: by road, expect more, LAX being connected by the 405 and then Sunset Boulevard. The operator publishes no journey time and merely indicates that a limousine service is available through the concierge, at a variable rate.
Public transport: the Metro 2 bus line runs along Sunset Boulevard and serves the area, according to Moovit and Transit.wiki. No heavy rail station is adjacent. Parking: valet only, charged at 65 USD before tax under the operator’s terms. Arrival from 4pm, departure by 11am.