Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Mystery Solved: Somewhere in Room 59



A little while back, I was missing my favorite place on this earth: The Chateau Marmont. I popped in the Sofia Coppola flick “Somewhere” and for 98 minutes, I was able to slip back into the atmosphere of that hotel where most of the movie was shot. On my website, I have photo-documented every room I have stayed in, but there were two left from my early days before I recorded the actual room number. Stephen Dorff plays Johnny Marco, an international superstar who is having an existential crisis. For most of the movie he is wearing an arm cast because of an alcohol induced fall he suffered while stumbling down the stairs of the hotel. I noticed the bathroom tile in this scene and wondered...could this be one of the two rooms I had left to figure out?

From my December 2002 stay comes this photo, also showing the distinctively replace tile that you can see under Dorff’s arm. BINGO! Looks like I stayed in Room 59 BEFORE Stephen Dorff did!



The balcony, where Johnny Marco is often seen smoking:



...and where I visited with my friend Arlette who was living in West Hollywood at the time.



The kitchen where Elle Fanning, who plays Johnny Marco’s daughter, prepares Eggs Benedict:



and the same kitchen from my December 2002 stay. LOVE that cobalt blue tile!



The living room where Dorff and Fanning play guitar while Chris Pontius watches:



…and how it looked in December 2002:



A behind the scenes shot of Coppola talking to Pontius and Fanning between scenes:



I still have one room left; any other Chateau nutz out there recognize this bathroom? [UPDATE: It’s Room 14]



See more Chateau Marmont room photos at my main website.

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