My Chateau Marmont Experience

Last night I had dinner at the renown Chateau Marmont. Built in 1927, it is one of the oldest establishments on the strip. Originally, it was an apartment building but high rents and the Depression kept people away so it was converted into a hotel. Numerous songs have been written in it and several films have been shot there making this hotel quite the historic landmark here in LA. The Chateau is located on the infamous Sunset Strip, up a little slope from it. Thankfully, I've driven past it enough to know exactly where it was.

There was a pretty intense scene just in front of the hotel! There's even a list to valet-you have to have a dinner reservation to even park there! There isn't a ton of parking around it so valeting is really the only logical thing to do. If I was smarter I think that I would have investigated the parking garages around the Strip and seen how far they were from it. Oh well.. next time. I know for sure that I definitely DO NOT want to ever pay $28 for valeting again! UGH!! I about choked when I got my car at the end of the night and the guy told me that! Gotta love my expensive city, right?

Unfortunately, my friends that I was meeting there for dinner were about an hour late and I was 30 minutes early. So how long did I wait? You do the math. Needless to say, several people who worked there asked me if I was ok a few times-kinda embarrassing! At least they were being attentive. This did give me plenty of time to think about future blog posts and of course lots of people watching.

When I googled the Chateau Marmont, a million celeb faces appeared. Apparently, the celebs love this spot. Ok, so you are all probably wondering if I happened to see anyone last night? Well, yes, we saw a few... While I was waiting (ahem!) I believe that I saw Courtney Love wandering around the lobby. I thought so at the time but didn't think she would be alone and so quiet so I put it out of my mind...but then hours later during dinner, I overheard a group of men talking about her as they walked into the restaurant. So, you tell me? : ) Next, at the end of the night as we were getting our cars, in the span of like 10 seconds, we saw Chris Noth aka Mr. Big from Sex and the City and then Michael Lohan, Lindsay Lohan's dad! Crazy, right? So, yeah, it's safe to say that celebs enjoy this hang out. : )

Alright, so I've told you about the celeb sightings and the pricey parking but I haven't even told you about the Chateau Marmont itself.

I found the following quote on the hotel website and I think it sums up the experience pretty well:

"Arriving at Chateau Marmont you surrender yourself to a grandi-loquent environment, an infamous hideaway and the perfect getaway in the center of one of the world's most exciting cities. Modeled after an infamous royal residence in France's Loire Valley, Chateau Marmont is a fantastical folly in the land of make believe. While in residence you become part of a highly discriminating, international clientele desiring an experience at once luxurious and unique. Chateau is the perfect co-conspirator; as Harry Cohn, founder of Columbia Pictures said in 1939, 'If you must get in trouble, do it at the Chateau Marmont.' You can be yourself or, better yet, be whomever you want to be; don't be surprised if your visit brings out your inner Howard Hughes, your Greta Garbo, your Jim Morrison. As public or private as you wish - there are those in residence who are desperate to be seen and others who choose to remain anonymous. The eccentric and highly personal history of the place, its luscious rich past, its tarnished patina are all part of the charm." -A. M Homes

Yes, it's a stylish and yet cozy hotel. Take the dining area for example, I felt like I was in someone's living room rather than a posh hotel.


The food? Well, a good friend who knows I love it recommended the gnoocchi so I had to get that and yes, it was great! I think that everyone else at dinner enjoyed their food too. Despite everything being very good at dinner, the service was pretty awful. I mean, if you are going to spend this much money on a night out, you'd expect the waiters to be super meticulous about your entire experience. This was not the case. If you remember in a previous post, I talked about my dinner at Mastro's Steakhouse and how amazing the dinner and the service were together. It was an expensive dinner but the food and the waiters were incredible. I'm totally willing to pay for a pricey meal here and there if it's deserved.

All in all, it was a lovely night and I am so happy that I got to see my dear friend Tracy who is in town for work with her sweet boss, who also joined us for dinner.

Here we are after the meal at a bar, The Den, which is just across from the Chateau Marmont.


So, have any of you been to the Chateau Marmont?

"Only in LA"

Yep, I got another one already! Well, technically, this happens in New York all the time too but whatever.. I'm still using it for my "Only in LA" series.

This morning I awoke to find brand new "No Parking" signs on my street. They are simple ones just telling us not to park on that side of the street. I am told they are filming signs and that soon, once they narrow down the exact location for filming, new signs like the one on the left will be posted. Pretty cool, huh?

Well, it is neat until it starts annoying me that I can't find parking anywhere. Let's hope they don't shoot a lame commercial and it's a cool new movie featuring let's say.. Bradley Cooper or perhaps a new music video by Beyonce. Now let me go move my car! : )

Stay tuned!

NO PARKING!

So I screwed up majorly today or rather last night. See, I saw the "No Parking" signs but I swear I remember reading "NO PARKING ON THURSDAY". Well, I was wrong, it said Wednesday instead. I walked out to my car this afternoon only to NOT find it where I parked it. This is truly the scariest feeling in the world! I immediately freaked out but somehow was able to pull it together to call the number on the sign to find out where the heck my car was towed to.

Thankfully, it was at an impound lot not too far away from my home and my wonderful friend, Jason, came to my place and picked me up and we headed there with only ten minutes to spare before they closed! Whew! And you don't even want to know how much I had to pay for them to release my car to me. Then, on top of that hefty fee, there was an additional parking ticket on my car window when I got my car back from the lot! Geez!~ How ridiculous is that?!

After talking to a few friends after this happened, I learned that it's really not very uncommon for people in LA to get their cars towed and get lots of parking tickets. Have you ever gotten your car towed? How many tickets have you gotten?

Well, I vow to be extra careful from now on when reading parking signs around this city. I seriously do not want to go through all this ever again! : (

LA Observation #1-Valet Parking

Ok, wow.. I just got home from mailing a box at Kinkos and there was valet parking there!!!!! Ridiculous, right?! And the line for it was actually long! So dumb! Of course I did not get in it, instead I drove like maybe 10 feet past the Kinkos and found plenty of street parking that didn't even have meters. I didn't even have to pay to park. Why oh why do those people think they can't handle parking their own cars?

I totally get it if there are no parking spaces around the area or if it's too tight of a space to park yourself. But this was not one of those cases. I also understand that this is LA and valet parking will become a part of my life for most places but if I can help it I will park my own car, thank you very much.

Here's some interesting info on the origination of the term "valet":

Valets were established in the Middle Ages. A valet is a gentleman's male servant. The valet performs personal services such as cleaning and preparing his employer's clothes, running his bath and perhaps shaving his employer. The master of any great house had his own valet, and in the very grandest great houses, other adult members of the employing family would also have their own valets.

Valets learned the skills for their role in various ways. Some began as footmen, learning some relevant skills as part of that job or by performing valeting tasks for his sons before they had a valet of their own, or for male guests who did not travel with a valet.

Traditionally, a valet did much more than merely lay out clothes and take care of personal items. He was also responsible for making travel arrangements, dealing with any bills and handling all money matters concerning his master or his master's household.