Chateau Marmont occupies a mythic place in Hollywood folklore: a decadent sanctuary overlooking the Sunset Strip that has been attracting artists, musicians and movie stars for almost a century. The hotel’s storied past is reflected in its timeless logo, a typemark set in calligraphic strokes that invoke the uncial script first used by biblical scribes thousands of years ago.

This Gothic lettering is perfectly in keeping with the aesthetic of the property itself, which opened as an apartment building in 1929. The original owner, Fred Horowitz, instructed architects Arnold A Weitzman and William Douglas Lee to model its design after the Château d’Amboise in the Loire Valley, a French royal castle dating from the 12th century and known as the final resting place of Leonardo da Vinci.

Chateau Marmont opened when Hollywood was in a state of flux, with the silent movie era giving way to the advent of the talkies. In 1931, Horowitz sold the property to the magician and film director Albert E Smith, who reconceptualised the property as a hotel just in time for Los Angeles to host the Summer Olympics in 1932. Writers including F Scott Fitzgerald and Dorothy Parker became early fans, and it wasn’t long before Chateau Marmont acquired a reputation for debauchery and discretion. In 1939, Columbia Pictures co-founder Harry Cohn famously instructed his stars: ‘If you must get into trouble, do it at the Chateau Marmont.’

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