The Chateau Marmont Hollywood Handbook - by Andre Balazs (Paperback)

About the Book

Today's premier writers and artists view the culture that is Hollywood in this collection of stories, portfolios, graphs, timelines and charts. Andre Balazs, the owner of the Chateau Marmont, has assembled a unique "tour" of Hollywood with contributions from Jay McInerney, Dominick Dunne, William Faulkner, Gore Vidal and others. With portfolios from Helmut Newton, Dennis Hopper, and many more, this is the most inspired perspective on Hollywood to emerge in many years. 200 illustrations.

Book Synopsis

The come-back of the year! Available again for the first time since 1996. This is Hollywood through the prism of its most legendary dormitory.

"The story of the Chateau Marmont parallels the story of Hollywood so thoroughly as to be inseparable from it...It's possible that no hotel in America inspires so much nostalgia, speculation, and sheer devotion."
-- VANITY FAIR

As happens in literature, where the hero sooner or later turns up at a hotel, so it happens that seemingly every creative talent in Hollywood eventually checks in at the Chateau. To paraphrase Somerset Maugham, speaking of another illustrious hotel in the Far East, the Chateau stands for all the fables of exotic Hollywood. Call it the vantage from the Citadel of Bohème. The result is not only an extraordinary oeuvre of films, music, and literature created in and about the Chateau, but also an attitude and a perspective of the surrounding culture.

THE CHATEAU MARMONT'S HOLLYWOOD HANDBOOK, a classic edited by André Balazs, is now available for the first time since the late 1990s. Between these covers is a collection of facts and fiction about a certain place, throughout nearly a century. It is about the icons of an evolving neighborhood, the ethos of an evolving culture. The result is not only an extraordinary oeuvre of films, music and literature created in and about the Chateau, but also an attitude and a perspective of the surrounding culture.

"Checking into the hotel is like stepping into a living history. It's out of time, suspended from the constraints, the issues, the concerns of the real world...In a city without a center, you could call this spot the epicenter: this is where deals are made - where love is won or lost - sometimes all in one night."
- AM HOLMES

LEGENDARY LITERARY CONTRIBUTORS: Blaise Cendrars, William Faulkner, Budd Schulberg, Lillian Ross, Azel Madsen, Gore Vidal, Eve Babitz, Jill Selsman, Anthony Haden-Guest, Jay McInerney, Bertram Fields, Dominick Dunne, Francis Ford Coppola, Harold Brodkey, and Mike Davis, and more!

LEGENDARY ART & PHOTOS: Chuck Boyd, Sofia Coppola, Todd Eberle, Robert Gober, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, David Hockney, Dennis Hopper, Jean Howard, Spike Jonze, Martin Kippenberger, Annie Leibovitz, McDermott and McGough, Roddy McDowall, Camilla McGrath, Patrick McMullan, Helmut Newton, Gérard Nicolas, Jack Pierson, Robert Rauschenberg, Ed Ruscha, Art Streiber, David Salle, Julian Schnabel, Tim Street-Porter, Wolfgang Tillmans, Ellen von Unwerth, Christopher Walken, & Bruce Weber.

From the Back Cover

From the legendary Chateau Marmont, Hollywood's hippest and hottest haunt, comes this extraordinary glamorous and fierce literary collection baring the stars, the landscape, and the ever-changing mood of America's most absorbing town. Rare and original texts, heart-stopping photography, and decades of gossip and anecdotes take you from film to rock and roll, from scandals to masterpieces, from starlets to moguls, and studios to bungalows in an unprecedented tour of Hollywood from the Golden Age to this morning's wake-up call.

Review Quotes

"So it's fitting that in Rizzoli's book about the Chateau--The Chateau Marmont Hollywood Handbook--tales of almost a century's worth of guests are interwoven with reflections on life in LA more generally. One page has staff notes on notables like Orson Welles ("somewhat a mystery guest"); another has a timeline of the city's development from Spanish colony to entertainment capital. Flip a few more and you'll find a chronicle of Hollywood's best scandals. The Chateau Marmont Hollywood Handbook was originally published in 1996. In the decades that followed, it amassed a cult following--so much so that Rizzoli decided to reissue the text after 29 years out of print. Since then, the Chateau has only shrouded itself in more secretive scandal: in 2012, Lindsay Lohan racked up a room bill of over $46,350.04 in less than two months (to the tabloids' delight), and Jay Z and Beyoncé made it the location for their annual Oscar Party. And so the legend grows." -- VOGUE

"Through its storied history, the book captures the evolving ethos of a neighborhood feel and the cultural perspective that has defined the heart of Hollywood's bohemian spirit." -- CURATED TEXAN

"The bestselling "Chateau Marmont Hollywood Handbook," which tells the official story of the famed Sunset Boulevard hotel -- and the true history of how it became a glorious, decadent celebrity hideaway -- is finally back on shelves for the first time since 1996. The cult-classic book is edited by Chateau Marmont owner himself André Balazs, who reveals the true fact and fiction about the storied L.A locale and its evolving culture. The book also includes contributions from dozens of writers such as William Faulkner, Lilian Ross, Budd Schulberg, Gore Vidal, Jay McInerney, Dominick Dunne, and Anthony Haden-Guest, and photographs from Helmut Newton, Dennis Hopper, Annie Leibovitz, Jack Pierson, and Wolfgang Tillman." -- VARIETY

"A rediscovered book about the legendary hotel -- a shabby chic center of Hollywood creativity and debauchery for nearly 100 years -- proves that nothing changes there except the names and room numbers." -- THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

"The backstory of this collection of rare writing and behind-the-scenes photos is captivating. Edited by legendary hotelier André Balazs, the book has been published again for the first time since 1996. Inside is text from the likes of Lillian Ross, Budd Schulberg, Dominick Dunne, and Jay McInerney, along with photographs of, well, nearly anyone who was anyone in Hollywood. Favorites must be the Annie Liebovitz shot of a bald, bare-chested Dennis Hopper and long-haired Christopher Waken; a shirtless Humphrey Bogart "tending to the bungalow garden"; and a smiling Björk moving "between rooms," photographed by Spike Jonze. What joins it all together, of course, is the hotel. The Chateau Marmont is the most important character here." --The Film Stage

About the Author

The editor of this volume, André Balazs, is responsible for creating some of the most iconic hotels in the world today. The legendary hotelier has been called a thinker, curator, social instigator and innovator for the projects he and his collaborators have developed and operated from Los Angeles to Miami, from New York to London...and many outposts in-between; places where Balazs makes you believe that--here, tonight, at this moment--anything is possible. This remarkable realm of experiences and communities--including The Mercer, The Raleigh, The Standard hotel group, Chiltern Firehouse and many more--all share the DNA honed during the rehabilitation of the Chateau Marmont.