The Castle on Sunset: Life, Death, Love, Art, and Scandal at Hollywood's Chateau Marmont

A most interesting read in ages. Loaded with a wonderful history of a famous hotel as well plenty of stories do famous actors that stayed there. Plenty of fun gossip.

The mysterious and uncertain life of the 90 plus year old Cateau Marmont is at the center of this non-fiction delight by Shawn Levy. Levy has provided us with a fascinating piece of the evolving history of not only the Chateau, but also of its neighbor the Sunset Strip and the many celebrities who came into and went out of its doors. Before I read the book, I knew little about the Chateau. I had heard about it being where John Belushi OD'd, Lindsay Lohan racking up $50,000 in unpaid charges, Jim Morrison swinging from balconies, and other tales of scandal; the Chateau was very protective of its residents’ privacy ~ the original “What happens in the Chateau, stays in the Chateau.” However, as the reader will discover, there is so much more to the 90 plus year history of Chateau Mormont than scandals.“The Castle on Sunset” lays out the evolution of the Chateau from its inception in 1929 as upscale apartments, turning into a hotel a decade later, a period of decay, and a real rebirth in recent years. What makes the book of interests is how its blends the history of the Chateau with the history of the residents and celebrities who frequented it along with the historical evolution of that Hollywood icon – The Sunset Strip. It was not a fast read, but it was an interesting book. The book was well researched, and he provides a lot of endnotes and citations. I loved the book; however, I would have loved more pictures.

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I've enjoyed several of Shawn Levy's other books, which is what drew me to this one. I hoped for a good amount of gossip about the famous people who stayed at the Chateau. There's plenty of that. But as primarily the biography of a building, there was an interminable amount of information about the actual, physical building. Its planning, architecture, construction and so on. That dropped my rating to 3 stars. Unfortunately for me, I'm not a reader who skips boring parts of a book. I read every page.

Enjoy the parties And had a good time there, Great memory.

Great book that tells you the real history of the chateau and not the folklore that people have heard. I think a lot of the people that weren’t happy with the book missed the point that all of the juicy gossip they wanted wasn’t actually true but there still is PLENTY of crazy stuff that did happen that is in the book. I will admit though that the first quarter of the book are historical people that none of us know today but you don’t have to know everyone to still enjoy it. One thing is for sure though if you are an avid non fiction lover who enjoys facts that might be considered dry to some then you’ll really enjoy it but if you aren’t than this book isn’t for you.

A history of the Chateau Marmont, this book essentially concentrated on two aspects of that history: 1) the history of the actual building, including its various owners, and 2) the clientele who actually stayed there.Since my purpose in reading was primarily for the "reveals" about the various personalities, I found the book "bogged down" at times with too much information about the building as a physical entity, but overall I enjoyed the author's presentation.

Book is the story of the hotel and some of the notable people who stayed there. Well written history of Old Hollywood

Firstly, I’m going to admit to being an absolute Shawn Levy fangirl BUT you know how brutally honest I am when it comes to book reviews, so please don’t assume that my opinions on this book are in any way biased. ‘Cause they’re not.I wanted to give The Castle on Sunset: Life, Death, Love, Art, and Scandal at Hollywood’s Chateau Marmont (phew!) a perfect score of 5/5 stars, but I can’t. Here’s why: this book should have been a coffee table book, not just a typical non-fiction book with white pages full of text and a small insert of grainy photographs in the middle.Shawn Levy is one of my auto-buy authors, meaning that whatever he writes and releases I’ll buy and read as soon as I can get my hands on it. He could write about gardening and I’d still purchase his book and gobble it up in a matter of days, I don’t care. His writing style is laid back, relatable, snarky, and easy to understand. Though he’s a non-fiction writer who tends to write mostly about classic film and old Hollywood, his books are incredibly easy to follow and digest. They’re approachable and that’s what I love most about them. They don’t intimidate me at all and that’s not always easy to find when you read a lot of classic film non-fiction.This book taught me a lot about California in the early twentieth century before it became known primarily as the centre of the film-making universe. Levy gets into the nitty-gritty of land development and county borders and though that may sound bland, it’s actually really interesting because there were certain laws that only applied to particular areas of California and not to others. Fascinating stuff. Levy also (obviously) delves into the inspiration, the design, the construction, and the on-going history of Chateau Marmont through the decades – from its birth as merely an idea in the mid-1920s to its current iteration of luxury and exclusiveness in the twenty-first century.Chateau Marmont began its life in February 1929 as an apartment tower, attracting California’s elite and scions of high society. The structure was then converted into a hotel in 1931 featuring 63 rooms, an intimate lobby, and an underground parking garage. The building was designed and constructed to be earthquake proof – which is really smart considering its location and California’s history of frequent and devastating earthquakes. The property has weathered five violent earthquakes since its opening, sustaining absolutely no major structural damage whatsoever. Incredible.One thing I’d like to point out before I go any further is that if you’re not a fan of classic film, old Hollywood, or pop culture, you’re probably going to find this book boring and hard to get through. I read through some Amazon reviews of the book a couple nights ago and that seemed to be the main consensus from readers. Many of them said they had to google the celebrities who were featured in Levy’s narrative because they had no idea who anyone was (imagine not knowing who Jean Harlow or Clark Gable were!). When you’re reading about people you’ve never heard of and have no interest in, you’re bound to think this book is “boring” and not worthwhile – and that’s a real shame because it’s plain to see that Shawn Levy put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into this book. That’s one thing I can say for sure about him – his research is always so well done and extensive. This guy does not skimp on history or detail.There are some awesome anecdotes in this book from everyone associated with classic Hollywood, to celebrities who relocated from New York to Hollywood to develop their film careers, to the people who actually worked (and work) at the Chateau Marmont. Another thing Levy doesn’t skimp on are interviews, so you’ll find a lot of first-hand knowledge here. One of my favourite stories from the book involved prolific writer and producer Dominick Dunne checking out of the hotel and leaving a pornographic VHS tape behind in his suite’s VCR.So, let’s go back to me not giving this book a perfect score, shall we? In my opinion, this should have been released as a coffee table book. The one major thing I kept dwelling on throughout my reading experience was the fact that there were no architectural layouts or floor plans included within the book. Levy spends a lot of time and effort describing the Chateau’s landscape, interiors, and all of its rooms, suites, and penthouses so a few architectural drawings of said spaces would have been awesome to study visually. Levy also devotes many chapters of his book to the Chateau’s neighbourhood, surrounding buildings, and historical landmarks – having high quality photos to look at whilst reading about these places would have been nice.Overall? I think you’ll really enjoy this book IF you’re a classic film fan and are interested in the history of California and Hollywood in particular. This was another winner for me and Shawn Levy did not let me down – he’s still one of my auto-buy authors and I’ll continue reading his work in the future. I just wish the book had been printed in a different format, that’s all, but we can’t have everything, can we?

Un libro affascinante e ben scritto che racconta interessanti aneddoti su proprietari, staff e ospiti di un’autentica icona del Sunset Boulevard, dalla sua costruzione ai giorni nostri (2019). Interessante apprendere come la metamorfosi dello Chateau Marmont, da semplice residence ad albergo di lusso, sia stata il fedele riflesso del susseguirsi delle varie epoche a cui ha fatto da testimone, in cui il denominatore comune - afferma l’autore - sia l’irrealtà di Hollywood.

Switches between interesting and dull,

This book was very, very detailed and at times felt very long.While I like that the author explained the origins of the Chateau, I find that too much time was spent on the early years, especially when it comes to the celebrities that visited there. While I do enjoy reading about celebrities and the Chateau, he focused on so many "old" time actors that I did not even know - I ended up Googling them.Ditto, he does not spend enough time in the 90's and on....and he spent a few minimal pages on Belushi, would would arguably be the most "famous" Chateau visitor.The tone of the book is engaging, but it sometimes gets lost in too much detail and or tangents that eventually come back to the Chateau, but can take a while.This is not a horrible book by any means, but it is a long one.

I couldn't put this book down!If you are like me and interested in old Hollywood (and some of the new stuff) you need to read this.I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it.