Sunset Marquis Hotel is a hotel in West Hollywood

West Hollywood, California

West Hollywood, a city of Los Angeles County, California, was incorporated on November 29, 1984, with a population of 34,399 at the 2010 census. 41% of the city's population is made up of gay men according to a 2002 demographic analysis by Sara Kocher Consulting for the City of West Hollywood...

, Los Angeles County, California

Los Angeles County, California

Los Angeles County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 9,818,605, making it the most populous county in the United States. Los Angeles County alone is more populous than 42 individual U.S. states...

. Owned by George Rosenthal, and located at 1200 Alta Loma Road

Alta Loma Road

Alta Loma Road is the celebrity-filled cul-de-sac that runs a mere one block. It is off the Sunset Strip in the city of West Hollywood. It is one block west of La Cienega Blvd...

, it is situated just off the Sunset Strip

Sunset Strip

The Sunset Strip is the name given to the mile-and-a-half stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through West Hollywood, California. It extends from West Hollywood's eastern border with Hollywood at Harper Avenue, to its western border with Beverly Hills at Sierra Drive...

, several hundred yards northeast of the Viper Room

Viper Room

The Viper Room is a nightclub located on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California. It was opened in 1993 and was partly owned by actor Johnny Depp until 2004. The club became known for being a hangout of Hollywood elite, and was the site where actor River Phoenix died of a drug overdose on...

. Described by Time

Time (magazine)

Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

as "an old rock-"n"-roll hotel", it is noted for its celebrity clientele, especially rock stars and DJs

Disc jockey

A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...

. Its small Whisky Bar, owned by Rande Gerber

Rande Gerber

Rande Gerber is a former model and the owner/operator of the Midnight Oil chain of bars and lounges. His brother Scott runs the financial end of the company, called The Gerber Group. Their youngest brother Kenny is also involved....

, is particularly well-known in the Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 music community, regularly hosting music industry and entertainment related events and parties. The hotel installed a recording studio in the basement to attract entertainers.

History

In 1995, Courtney Love

Courtney Love

Courtney Michelle Love is an American rock musician. Love is the lead vocalist, lyricist, and rhythm guitarist for alternative rock band Hole, which she formed in 1989, and is an actress who has moved from bit parts in Alex Cox films to significant and acclaimed roles in The People vs...

 left a suicide note in her room in the hotel after a fight with then lover Trent Reznor

Trent Reznor

Michael Trent Reznor is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, record producer, and leader of industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. Reznor is also a member of How to Destroy Angels alongside his wife, Mariqueen Maandig, and Atticus Ross. He was previously associated with bands Option 30,...

 of the Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...

. According to her book Dirty Blonde: The Diaries of Courtney Love, she left a suicide-note-like apology letter addressed to deceased husband Kurt Cobain

Kurt Cobain

Kurt Donald Cobain was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana...

 and daughter Frances Bean

Frances Bean Cobain

Frances Bean Cobain is the daughter of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and Hole singer Courtney Love.-Childhood and youth:...

, saying that I love you. Please forgive me. ... You are both too beautiful for me. I love you forever. Love later wrote a song named Sunset Marquis for the 2010 Hole

Hole (band)

Hole is an American alternative rock band that originally formed in Los Angeles in 1989. The band is fronted by vocalist/songwriter and rhythm guitarist Courtney Love, who co-founded Hole with former songwriter/lead guitarist Eric Erlandson...

album Nobody's Daughter

Nobody's Daughter

Nobody's Daughter is the fourth studio album by alternative rock band Hole, released worldwide on April 27, 2010 through Mercury Records. The album was originally conceived by Hole frontwoman Courtney Love as a solo project titled How Dirty Girls Get Clean, following her poorly-received solo debut...

but it wasn't released on the record. Love reportedly wrote another song, "How Dirty Girls Get Clean", on Marquis notepaper.

On May 28, 1996, Dave Gahan overdosed on a speedball

Speedball (drug)

Speedball is a term commonly referring to the hazardous intravenous use of heroin or morphine and cocaine together in the same syringe. The speedball can also be taken by insufflation. The original speedball used cocaine hydrochloride mixed with morphine sulfate, as opposed to heroin...

 at the hotel, which resulted in his heart stopping for two minutes until he was revived by paramedics.

In 2007, the hotel underwent expansion with an additional 40 villas.

Between December 4, 2010 and March 15, 2011, the hotel hosted a Maximillian Gallery exhibition.

Architecture

The Sunset Marquis is inspired by Mediterranean style villas, with white and cream buildings and orange roofs and swimming pool. The long entrance pavilion of the hotel is reminiscent of hotels in Mediterranean France or Italy. It has 152 rooms. The rooms are described by Frommer's as being furnished in "mahogany

Mahogany

The name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored hardwood. It is a native American word originally used for the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban mahogany....

, metal

Metal

A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...

 and nubby textiles, with earth-toned fabrics, Noguchi Akari rice-paper lamps and marble counters". Villas are equipped with alarm systems and some have jacuzzis or baby grand pianos. The grounds are spread over 5 acres and despite close proximity to the Sunset Strip is set in lush gardens. Its restaurant is known as The Room, and caters in French fusion cuisine amongst other cuisines. The hotel also has a 1800 square feet (167.2 m²) spa sanctuary with four private treatment rooms and two manicure

Manicure

A manicure is a cosmetic beauty treatment for the fingernails and hands performed at home or in a nail salon. A manicure treatment is not only a treatment for the natural nails but also for the hands. A manicure consists of filing, shaping of the free edge, treatments, massage of the hand and the...

 or pedicure

Pedicure

A pedicure is a way to improve the appearance of the feet and the nails. It provides a similar service to a manicure. The word pedicure refers to superficial cosmetic treatment of the feet and toenails...

 stations.

Whisky Bar

The bar of the hotel, known as the Whisky Bar or BAR 1200 was established in 1996. It is a small bar and only accommodates about 45 people but it is known as a hangout for models and celebrities. It is often visited by musicians such as Billy Gibbons

Billy Gibbons

William Frederick "Billy" Gibbons is an American musician, actor and car customizer, best known as the guitarist of the Texas blues-rock band ZZ Top. He is also the lead singer and composer for many of the band's songs. Gibbons is known for playing his Gretsch Billy Bo guitar and his famous 1959...

, U2

U2

U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...

, Rolling Stones, Robbie Williams

Robbie Williams

Robert Peter "Robbie" Williams is an English singer-songwriter, vocal coach and occasional actor. He is a member of the pop group Take That. Williams rose to fame in the band's first run in the early- to mid-1990s. After many disagreements with the management and certain group members, Williams...

, John Mayer

John Mayer

John Clayton Mayer is an American pop rock and blues rock musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and music producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to Atlanta in 1997, where he refined his...

, Aerosmith

Aerosmith

Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many...

 and Eminem

Eminem

Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...

 and regularly features exclusive live performances. Time

Time (magazine)

Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

magazine describes the Sunset Marquis as "an old rock-"n"-roll hotel; it's gone out of fashion a little bit." By contrast, Frommer's

Frommer's

Frommer's is a travel guidebook series and one of the bestselling travel guides in America. The series began in 1957 with the publication of Arthur Frommer's book, Europe on $5 a Day. Frommer's has expanded to include over 350 guidebooks across 14 series, as well as other media including the award...

describes the Whisky Bar as "ultra trendy". It regularly hosts music industry and entertainment related events and parties.