The Sunset Marquis: Still the Coolest Hotel in Hollywood
So, the summer itinerary for the hipster New Yorker swinging through L.A. begins right here with yours truly. And the coolest hotel to lay your head as you go about embracing the role of astute Hollywood insider (for a few days at least) still begins at the iconic West Hollywood home away from home for legendary creatives for almost 60 years — The Sunset Marquis Hotel.
For the New Yorker-in-the-know visiting Hollywood, it’s already a given that the base camp must always be in the environs of West Hollywood. WeHo for most New Yorkers offers the vibe we are accustomed to because it feels like a community and a neighborhood and because it remains the heartbeat to the vibe and buzz — and soul of Los Angeles. And for New Yorkers who still love to walk wherever they go, getting a room at the Sunset Marquis guarantees that you can stroll the neighborhood and not experience FOMO. Why? Because even to this day many of L.A.’s iconic restaurants and bars and buzz spots, old and new, are still very much within a 15-minute radius of 1200 Alta Loma Avenue where you will take up residence. ”Nobody walks in L.A.” goes the refrain from a famous 80’s rock anthem. But that doesn’t apply if you are smart enough to know better.
So, what is Los Angeles like as we finally — finally — re-emerge from this seemingly never-ending pandemic era? Well, for the Sunset Marquis, unlike its decades-long rival up the hill, the Chateau Marmont, the vibe could not be more welcoming. If nothing else, the Covid-era lockdown allowed for a jowly, aging rock and roll chick with the junky pallor and wrinkly lips to clean up and put down the whiskey. She’s sobered up and re-invented herself with the requisite nip and tuck, and more, for a whole new groupie. And that is precisely what co-owner Mark Rosenthal and his team at the Sunset Marquis have done. Because this haven has never been more Zen, more sublime and more the ultimate definition of Hollywood cool.
I love hotel living, always have. So, after the quick unpack and surmising the marvelously top-class update to what is essentially my one-bedroom apartment for the next few days, I jumped in the ultra-modern kitted out en-suite bathroom with the blasting shower heads like the waterfalls of Niagara and seriously spent the next hour meditating. I didn’t want to leave the amazing bathroom of Villa 52 of the Sunset Marquis. Room service was ordered in and the glass doors to my private bamboo garden were swung open to embrace the cashmere weather nights of Los Angeles in November as the quiet purr of the usual L.A. traffic provided just enough of a sign that yes, GW– you’re in Hollywood, baby!
And it becomes evidently clear over the course of the next few days with all the luxe new details that this hotel has now fully re-imagined the narrative of the raucous Rock & Roll hangout to a hotel with even more charm and that word again- Zen feel whilst still maintaining its roots as a major cornerstone to L.A.’s culture of cool for 60 years. There are more opulent hotels with more breathtaking locations than this one. And there are other hotels in this neighborhood where celebrities are known to let loose. But none can rival the pedigree of ”The SM” and its generational and unrivalled hip factor.
And that hip factor began at inception when the cool hippies up in Laurel Canyon like Joni Mitchell would begin venturing down to Sunset Boulevard to mix and mingle and pretty quickly the
Sunset Marquis became the place for the true musical genius to feel right at home. ”It became a place where lots of things were accepted,” George Rosenthal, the visionary behind the property once quipped. George Rosenthal was a wild and crazy guy with a heart of gold who had the grand fantasy of creating his version of Alla Nazimova’s Garden of Allah Hotel on this incredible swathe of land he’d acquired in the heart of then un-defined West Hollywood. He, and his business partner at the time, Hugh Hefner, had been unable to obtain financing for a Playboy Hotel to house the guests and performers at the Playboy Club and office tower on Sunset Boulevard. This failure gave rise to a more realistic option just down the block, and so the Sunset Marquis opened in 1963 as a low-cost apartment hotel. Today it is a re-imagined secluded and re-invented escape in the heart of bustling WeHo with 154 superbly renovated suites and villas, a restaurant, spa and recording studio spread over almost four acres of lush flora and fauna under the guidance of his son, heir apparent and inspiration for the hotel’s name, Mark Rosenthal.
All through the ’70s ’80s and ’90s this hotel truly was the refuge for ALL of Hollywood’s
most legendary rock & roll creatives. Guns N Roses, and especially Slash, practically lived at
the hotel and many did. At the height of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston love-life-mania, they kept the paparazzi at bay for almost a year whilst living at the celebrity favorite Villa #2 of the Sunset Marquis. Kate Hudson and her ’90s lover Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes also lived for months in Villa #2, too, which was where the entire Osborne family holed up when they first moved to Hollywood and began that Villa #2 trend back in the big ’80s. Jeff Beck still loves to strum his guitar in the gardens of his favorite Villa on the occasion he’s in town. But the days of Agnetha Fältskog {the iconic lead singer of ABBA) lounging by the pool topless when that famous group first came to America on their very first tour are now just a part of this hotel’s charm and lore and myth. The fact that Green Day still owns the only band that’s been banned from staying at the hotel on three separate occasions is a record likely never to be broken. Not in this age when social media has wrecked asunder any hope of flagrantly public bad behavior by the rich and famous. These days there is no reprieve from the Tweet, the TikTok for TMZ or post to the Instagram wall. These days Dave Grohl is the rock & roll ideal for the Sunset Marquis and is obvious homage is there to see the minute you check in to find his image on the plastic swathe of a room key. And why not? He did after all meet his wife Jordan in the hotel’s famous Whiskey Bar off the lobby entrance.
The days when John Oates of the famous Hall & Oates would whoop enthusiastically, ”The Sunset Marquis was like adult Disneyland” can still be applied but in a much different way. “The pendulum had to swing,” says the property’s namesake, Mark Rosenthal who, long ago, became a partner in the property with his father– this is now about cementing the 21st Century narrative of the Sunset Marquis and so kudos to the maestro. Because this property has never been more beautiful.
Ziggy Marley could still check in to the Sunset Marquis and pile at least a pound of weed on the coffee table in his room like his father Bob Marley did back in the day when he gave that epic live gig up the hill at The Roxy — and management wouldn’t give a fig but today, especially as we exhale and realize our blessings this post-pandemic era. I was washing down the most slurp-worthy plate of West Coast Oysters followed by the most amazing Bucatini Pasta and jotting and reminiscing. I giggled to myself as I thought about the last time I stayed in a Villa at the Sunset Marquis for an Oscar week in the early 2000s and going to party at Paris Hilton’s bachelorette pad overlooking Sunset Boulevard and practically being molested by James Brown’s widow in the kitchen. True story! James Brown’s widow wanted me to mount her. Suffice to say – that never happened. But such is the mood of creative fecund that sweeps the sense from my perch in the groovy communal dining al fresco scene of the in-house Cavatina restaurant. It’s easy to feel and understand mentally why this place has been so integral to writing and creating.
And then there is its one-a-kind locale. It is no cliche to say that the best way to discover any city is by walking the city you visit. But how to do that in a city like Los Angeles where you look like the only loser by wanting to stroll around? Taking up residence at the Sunset Marquis is the truly exceptional way to quash that worry.
Just a brisk stroll up the hill to Sunset Boulevard and you can quickly become the cool Los Angelenos, so sit and order a latte at the Coffee Bean or the Starbucks and people watch. And there is nowhere to people watch the most beautiful folk in L.A. than in West Hollywood. So, feel no shame in holding court by that still au courant coffee spot, or maybe it’s lunch at still popular eateries all along Sunset Plaza like the Chin Chin or Le Petit Four where you can ogle the Lululemon beauties strutting in and out of the vast Equinox complex next door.
On your Day 3 perhaps, one could go about shopping and power walking at the same time with a visit to start the afternoon at the coolest boutique on Sunset Plaza in H. Lorenzo and then stroll to the iconic Dries Van Noten boutique on famous La Cienega Boulevard before strolling onwards to the Beverly Center a mile or so away from where it is a must to first stop by the Concierge Desk to L.A.’s most famous shopping mecca to find out which stores have special discounts for visitors to the city.
On your Night 4 perhaps, you will want to just stroll the most famous movie billboard corridor in the world! At night the twinkle and sparkle of the lights of Hollywood and the huge, glorious billboards of all the latest movie stars truly throttle the senses. You stroll it to feel it — yes baby, you are truly in Hollywood. It is the most intoxicating rush ever. And time to show off the fruits of the shopping spree by getting glammed up for dinner at the most craved sushi restaurant in town called Sushi Park, a five-minute walk once again to Sunset Blvd. Do not be surprised at all if you find yourself at Sushi Park seated next to Angelina Jolie picking over sea bass nigiri whilst batting her eyelashes at her new friend The Weeknd.
On your Day 5 after the morning latte, a visit to one of the world’s most famous bookstores in the Book Soup is a must to, not only pick up the morning Los Angeles Times or New York Times, but a
few hardcovers for reading and sunning by either of the two pools at your disposal when you get back to the hotel. You could even do the macabre Hollywood tribute before all that and lay a rose by the Viper Room where to this day fans still leave wreaths and such at the site where River Phoenix overdosed decades ago. And you can then stroll by the most fabulous art gallery devoted to all things Andy Warhol at The Revolver Gallery. Later, an early evening drink or meal is a five-minute cab ride or Uber to the Polo Lounge of the iconic Beverly Hills Hotel, where the perfect Instagram moment awaits. And end the day with another round of shopping at the iconic L.A. boutique Fred Segal which has brand new headquarters just up the hill from your hotel room. Wear that perfect hoodie to the Abbey before you leave town and slingback tequila with the dancing queens. It’s all right there a quick walk or drive to all you need to see or do in Hollywood.
Regarding the Sunset Marquis’ future, Mark Rosenthal shares these thoughts, “In 2023, we will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Sunset Marquis Hotel. From modest beginnings, it became, and remains, a garden oasis for the creative class in the midst of one of the densely populated and most vibrant communities in greater Los Angeles – the City of West Hollywood. As one of the few luxury hotels that have remained in the same family for nearly six decades, we are blessed with long-tenured management and staff who create a genuine and authentic hospitality experience that truly make the property a ‘home away from home’ for our loyal customers – a place where they can find the room to live and create in our spacious suites and villas, and experience a vortex of connectivity with their peers in the restaurant and common areas all set in our lush gardens. Our goal for the next decade is to continually enhance this quintessential nature of the Sunset Marquis and introduce it to the next generation of creative spirits as their refuge in Los Angeles.”
There is not another hotel to beat the convenience and the pedigree of the Sunset Marquis
Hotel. As Slash so succinctly framed it, ”It’s the only hotel around L.A. that’s maintained its cool factor since 1963.” Even more profound are the words of Craig Allen Williams, co-author of If These Walls Could Rock: 50 Years At the Legendary Sunset Marquis Hotel who opined, ”It’s almost like the place itself has a beating heart and a pulse and a soul. When you walk in the door, and you come in that awning, it’s like you are going into this magical world.”
The Sunset Marquis Hotel
800-858-9758
