The Chateau Marmont mimics a Loire Valley castle, complete with turrets and balconies clinging to the steep hillside above Sunset Boulevard. In nineteen twenty-nine, apartment developer Fred Horowitz commissioned it as a luxury residence…
Sunset Strip Rock History
Walk the legendary stretch of Sunset Boulevard where counterculture and hair metal were born, stopping at the hotels and clubs where rock-and-roll history was made.
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1. Chateau Marmont
2. Sunset Tower Hotel
The Sunset Tower Hotel rises as a vertical stack of stepped concrete, featuring relief carvings of airplanes, cars, and zeppelins along its facade. Built in nineteen thirty-one, the building became a home for movie stars seeking privacy…
3. Andaz West Hollywood, by Hyatt
The Andaz West Hollywood wears a distinct, curved glass facade that bends with the sweeping arc of Sunset Boulevard. In the late nineteen sixties, this building operated as the Riot House, a hotel where musicians lived for months at a time…
4. The Comedy Store
The Comedy Store features a heavy, dark wooden door set into a low-slung, cream-colored building on the Sunset Strip. Sammy Davis Junior once owned the property, but in nineteen seventy-two, Mitzi Shore took over the lease. She transformed…
5. Sunset Marquis
The Sunset Marquis stands out for its high, ivy-covered walls that turn a hectic stretch of West Hollywood into a private, tropical compound. It began as a modest apartment complex in nineteen sixty-three for actors looking for steady…
6. The Viper Room
The Viper Room is a small, black-fronted club on the Sunset Strip. It gained a dark reputation in nineteen ninety-three when actor River Phoenix collapsed and died on the sidewalk outside from a drug overdose. Before that tragedy, the…
7. Whisky a Go Go
The black awning over the entrance bears a simple, unmistakable logo that has defined the Sunset Strip since nineteen sixty-four. This venue began as the first true discotheque in the United States, inspired by the girl-in-a-cage dancing…
8. The Roxy Theatre
The Roxy Theatre on Sunset Boulevard has a black facade and a marquee that has displayed the names of rock icons since nineteen seventy-three. Elmer Valentine and Lou Adler opened the venue on the site of a former strip club. In the early…
9. Rainbow Bar & Grill
The Rainbow Bar and Grill features a black facade with a prominent, neon-lit sign glowing above the entrance on the Sunset Strip. This building formerly housed the Villa Nova restaurant, where Joe DiMaggio took Marilyn Monroe on their…