Chateau Christmas

The Lafayette Hotel in San Diego isn’t the only Daveland favorite place to get decked out for the holidays; the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood has tastefully put the red and green into their hallowed halls. When you enter this legendary landmark, you are greeted by poinsettias and wreaths.



Best looking poinsettias I have seen this season!



The entryway elevators just need a touch of mistletoe to complete the picture!



“Live” garland has been strewn around the stairwell rails. This must be hell to clean up!



The lobby desk:



In the lobby display, green surrounds the art and merchandise that will cost you some green to acquire:



In the bar/dining room area, more greenery:



The Christmas tree in the lobby restaurant which is my favorite place in the entire hotel:



The pool had its share of wreaths and poinsettias, too:



I dare you to find some that look better than these:



For brunch after my swim, the fluffy pancakes (which are truly fluffy, not just marketing speak) were accompanied by Meyer lemon butter. Off the charts sensational (note the famous Chateau bacon surrounding the plate).



See more Chateau Marmont photos at my main website.

Changes on Sunset

A new photo in my vintage collection has allowed me to give a wider range of the changes that have occurred over the years by the Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard. First image is from the early 1950s and shows The Players Club. By 1979, it was replaced by the Imperial Gardens Japanese Restaurant.



Any of you seen the George C. Scott film "Hardcore"? It's one of those that's so bad it's good. Well...maybe not good. Good is a very strong word for a movie that bad.



The other billboard on Sunset shows the new album by Ted Nugent, Weekend Warriors, which was released September 1978.



This shot that I took personally back in January 2011 shows yet another location change, this time Miyagi's, which was a popular restaurant/nightclub. Unfortunately, my collection is still missing a shot of when this location was the infamous Roxbury.



And a recent shot of how the Pink Taco has overtaken this small piece of Sunset Strip real estate. The food here is so bad it's...



More Chateau Marmont photos at my main website.

Alla and The Lonely Heart

Across the street from my beloved Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard once stood the Garden of Allah Hotel. Consisting of a main house and villas, this lovely complex was torn down to make way for a strip mall. Here in this vintage photo from September 10, 1940 we can see the hotel behind its namesake (whose name had no "h"). From the accompanying publicity blurb:

Conferring on the radio script for "This Lonely Heart" beside the pool at The Garden of Allah in Hollywood, are Arch Oboler, writer-director-producer of Everyman's Theatre and Alla Nazimova, internationally famous star. Oboler's forthcoming dramatic series for Proctor and Gamble will make its debut on the NBC-Red Netowkr October 4 with Nazimova as the first guest star. Gordon Jenkins, whom Oboler has chosen as musical director of the series, will lead a symphony orchestra composed of members of the Los Angeles Symphony in the Tschaikowsky music, which serves as the musical background for "The Lonely Heart."



If you want to see the proposed Frank Gehry ginormous structure that might replace the strip mall, check out Curbed LA. There goes the view, Sunset Boulevard neighbors!

Visit my main website and see more Garden of Allah photos.