Shawn Levy is the former film critic of The Oregonian and KGW-TV. His writing has appeared in Sight and Sound, Film Comment, American Film, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, The Hollywood Reporter, and The Black Rock Beacon. He is the bestselling author of Rat Pack Confidential, Paul Newman: A Life, and Dolce Vita Confidential. He jumps and claps, and sings for victory in Portland, Oregon. www.shawnlevy.com
“Fascinating, dishy, and glimmering with insight, The Castle on
Sunset is a must-read for anyone interested in the rich and racy
history of Tinseltown. Shawn Levy’s entertaining and deeply
researched biography of a building chronicles experiences both
glamorous and sordid, historical and contemporary. This is the
definitive book about Hollywood’s most storied hotel.”
—Cheryl Strayed, #1 New York Times bestselling author
of Wild
"Reading The Castle on Sunset, I felt like I was sneaking around
the hallways of the Chateau after midnight and peering through
keyholes in history. Shawn Levy pulls back the velvet curtains to
reveal all the decadence, glamour, ghosts and gossip of a fabled
and dreamy Hollywood. Lovingly researched and wonderfully
dishy.”
—Joe Hagan, author of the national bestseller Sticky Fingers:
The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine
“Alongside an endless supply of famous guests, Levy has managed to
make the hotel itself a living, breathing, and wonderfully
endearing character. The Castle on Sunset is thoughtfully
researched and gorgeously executed.”
—Jacob Tomsky, New York Times bestselling author
of Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and
So-Called Hospitality
“I want to live inside this book!”
—Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of Daisy Jones & The Six
“The great chronicler of films and pop culture has done it again.
With The Castle on Sunset Shawn Levy uncovers one of Hollywood's
most elusive, and delicious, sagas—the life and times of the
Chateau Marmont. For ninety years the grand, intimate hotel perched
above Los Angeles' Sunset Strip has been the respite of
choice for the world's most famous and notorious celebrities to
sleep, work and indulge themselves in something like solitude....
As elegant and naughty as the hotel's guests, The Castle on Sunset
tells a secret history of American film, fame, and decadence. It's
a spellbinding read.”
—Peter Ames Carlin, New York Times bestselling author
of Bruce and Homeward Bound
“An irresistible, deliciously dishy deep-dive into the many lives
of the storied Chateau Marmont, told in prose so witty and alive,
you feel you're sitting at the bar with Dominick Dunne. This is a
book worthy of its glamorous, alluring subject.”
—Wednesday Martin, #1 New York Times bestselling author
of Primates of Park Avenue and Untrue
“It seems half of Hollywood, past and present, have either lived,
worked, had an affair, drugged, or died at the Chateau
Marmont. Filled with show business stories and lore, etched
against the backdrop of an ever-changing L.A., The Castle on Sunset
gives the Marmont the splendid biography it deserves.”
—Steven Gaines, New York Times bestselling author of Philistines at
the Hedgerow: Passion and Property in the Hamptons and The Sky’s
the Limit: Passion and Property in Manhattan
“For years, Shawn Levy has been shaming the rest of us who write
about movies with his contagious high spirits, elegant
phrasemaking, Stakhanovite appetite for research, and
maddeningly natural reader rapport. As I write this, I am illegally
parked on Sunset across from the Chateau Marmont, and—thanks to
Levy’s louchely addictive history of the place—the old girl looks
lovelier than ever. Check in, call room service, draw yourself a
hot bath and luxuriate!”
—David Kipen, author of Dear Los Angeles: The City in Diaries and
Letters
"A fabulously fizzy account."
—Vanity Fair
“Witty [and] intimate.”
—BBC
“The Castle on Sunset is stitched through with savory anecdotes
that navigate us through an ever-shifting city, as the building’s
own story arc mirrors Hollywood’s various transitions.”
—Los Angeles Times
“[An] engrossing account of the L.A. hotel’s 90-year history of
decadence. Weaving together historical research and firsthand
accounts, the author examines the transformation of the high-end
apartment building into a world-famous hotel often inhabited by
itinerant Hollywood directors and actors…This eye-popping and
entertainingly lurid tale of Hollywood scandal and intrigue will
delight readers."
—Publishers Weekly
“In his latest forary into Hollywood history, [Shawn Levy] explores
one of Los Angeles' most famous landmarks, the Chateau Marmont
hotel…A genuinely fascinating look at how Hollywood supports its
stars.”
—Booklist
“Levy delivers all the goods on Hollywood's iconic, storied, and
scandalous hotel.”
—The Portland Tribune
“Fantastic…This dishy, breezy tome is a condensed history of pop
culture with copious actors, rock stars, filmmakers, scenesters,
and troublemakers wandering through. Nearly every famous and
infamous figure from the last 90 years makes a small or large
appearance. The Castle on Sunset plays like a riff on Kenneth
Anger’s legendary Hollywood Babylon, but consigned to one key
locale.”
—The Stranger
"Dishy and deep diving...A refreshing portrait of the Chateau
emerges, more bohemian oasis than seedy skeleton closet."
—Los Angeles Review of Books
“[An] absorbing account that is breezy yet substantial,
entertaining yet sober-minded, judicious yet empathetic.”
—Screen Anarchy
“If the walls in the Chateau could talk, they’d tell the stories in
this book. I couldn’t put it down. READ THIS BOOK!”
—Monster Children
“Levy digs deep into scandals, wild parties, births, and deaths in
retelling the history of iconic Los Angeles hotel the Chateau
Marmont.”
—Boston.com
“In this very fun and informative read, Levy chronicles one of
Hollywood’s most famous addresses.”
—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
“Dishy…Levy traces the tumultuous history of the legendary
apartment house turned luxury hotel.”
—Vulture
“So wild that even Hollywood’s best screenwriters couldn’t make
this stuff up.”
—Fortune
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