The hotel might not look like it from the outside – tucked away up a side street and with a modest entrance – but it’s one of the most legendary star hangouts in Los Angeles.
And its general manager has spilt the beans to news.com.au on his most notorious – and his most chilled out – celebrity guests.
For five decades, anybody who’s anybody has partied, and then passed out, at the Sunset Marquis hotel in the LA enclave of West Hollywood.
From Aerosmith to Abba, Rihanna to the Rolling Stones, Jennifer Aniston to Whoopi Goldberg via George Clooney, all have lounged by its pool and languished by its bar.
The Sunset Marquis’ Rod Gruendyke says he takes it all in his stride.
“When someone says to me ‘do you know who I am?’ I say ‘I don’t, but congratulations on your success’. You still have to follow the rules’.”
Mr Gruendyke says all guests – be they famous, infamous or simply the main character in their own lives – should be treated with the same hospitality.
Besides, it doesn’t help in his job to be too star struck.
“A lot of general managers will try and meet (celebrities), walk them to their room and ask them for a picture or a (concert) ticket – I have never done that here in all my 35 years,” Mr Gruendyke said.
“I have been invited but I can’t tell you many how many times I have NOT been to concerts.
“When (celebrities) are doing a show, it’s time for me to take a breath.”
It’s a better use of his time, he says, to take “four hours off so I can go and catch some sleep,” because when the guests return he wants to ensure they are being looked after.
The Sunset Marquis is a steep climb up, or a short roll down, from the world famous Sunset Strip and its swath of legendary live music venues including The Roxy, Whisky a Go Go and The Viper Room.
Musicians could play their gigs and within minutes be back shielded from prying eyes.
It’s certainly not the only fancy hotel on the West Hollywood block frequented by the rich and the riotous.
The 1 Hotel and Edition are contemporary constructions stuffed with all the mod cons: spacious bars, salubrious spas and rooftop view across the metropolis. The Sunset Tower and Chateau Marmont are dripping with history and soaked in celebrities: they practically demand you have a dirty martini and people watch. And then there’s the Andaz, formerly known as the Hyatt House – but universally referred to as the “Riot House” – due to the misbehaviour of many of its celebrity clientele.
‘The rock ‘n’ roll hotel’
But the Sunset Marquis is a unique oasis from the hustle – it even has a recording studio in its basement. Behind its discreet doors, rooms and suites peer over the pool where, over decades, stars have sunbaked.
For extra privacy, more than 50 villas meander off palm tree lined pathways. Each a slice of subtle and secluded luxury.
Sometimes not secluded enough for the paparazzi, says Mr Gruendyke.
“Something we used to see a lot was people with cameras set up (trained) at the windows. So I planted trees in particular areas to block certain balconies.”
Cyndi Lauper is a Sunset marquis regular. “Sure, it’s the ‘rock n roll hotel!’” she told Rolling Stonemagazine of her many stays.
“But it’s more than that, it’s a place of serenity and beauty.
“After the craziness of a gig or an awards show … you know you have a place where you can relax and recharge.”
Most disruptive and most charming guests
If you’re a hotel known for rock and roll guests they’re going to do rock and roll things. But, said Mr Gruendyke, there are limits. One of his peskiest famous guests was the band Green Day who were banned from the Sunset Marquis on three separate occasions – a hotel record.
Their first ban was for a year after they threw all their suite’s furniture – naturally including the TV – into the garden below.
Exactly 12 months later, the band asked if they could return, said Mr Gruendyke. This time the drummer Tre Cool was dying his hair. Mr Gruendyke said he managed to dye the room’s carpets green as well and then his bandmates moved all the potted plants into the suite to make an indoor jungle. The ban for that escapade was for three months.
When that ban was over, Green Day returned once more. They filled a jacuzzi with bubble bath which then filled a courtyard with bubbles. This relatively minor misdemeanour led to just a one month ban.
Green Day have returned since and no further bans have been necessary.
“They grew up,” Mr Gruendyke said of the moderation in behaviour.
“People get older, they get more mature, they get married and have children”.
There is no hesitation when Mr Gruendyke is asked who is the most charming guest: actor Billy Bob Thornton.
“Billy Bob has always been a gentleman,” he said. A star with no pretensions or airs and graces.
“When Billy comes in here, from day one, he’ll pretend we don’t know who he is.”
Thornton, says Mr Gruendyke, will often stop by to chat to the staff. And he was definitely a regular – at one point staying at the Sunset Marquis for four years.
Even when he moved out, after a long tiring day on set, Mr Gruendyke said Thornton would sometimes forget he had an actual home to go to.
“Billy would show up and say ‘I just need my room key’ and I’d say ‘Billy, you checked out two month ago’.”
Nonetheless, a room would be rustled up and he would be given a comb and a toothbrush.
“We’d check him in and the next morning he would head back to work”.
Thornton’s relationship with the hotel is so strong, he’s earned the title the “Mayor of the Sunset Marquis”.
Indeed, Thornton has narrated a new documentary on the Sunset Marquis and its celebrity clientele called If These Walls Could Rock. It features interviews with many of the establishment’s famous guests including Lauper, Slash, Dave Grohl, Bruce Springsteen and Ringo Starr.
The film sums up the hotel as the “hideaway where rock stars checked in, passed out, and made history”.
Thornton is even immortalised on the hotel’s walls. One day, says Mr Gruendyke, Thornton saw that there was large photograph of Whoopi Goldberg next to the women’s toilet in the hotel’s Cavatina restaurant.
The image is of Goldberg in the loo looking exasperated as fans reach beneath the cubicle desperate for an autograph. It’s a recreation of an incident Goldberg says actually happened at Disney World. She gifted it to the Sunset Marquis as she thought the rest room themed work would ideally suit a spot next to the ladies lavatories.
“Billy Bob saw her picture and said ‘hey, why isn’t my picture here?’” pointing to the wall by the men’s, recalled Mr Gruendyke.
Soon after, he came down to the Sunset Marquis with an image from the film Bad Santa with Thornton’s Santa character drunk passed out by the urinals. The pictures are now toilet twins.
The Sunset Marquis is about to complete a multimillion dollar renovation with existing rooms and villas refurbished and upgraded, some with their own jacuzzis, private outdoor patios and even driveways.
You don’t have to love the music or entertainment industries to stay at the Sunset Marquis. But it helps to understand the history of the place.
“People that are into rock and roll, the music scene, they might go to a concert on Sunset Boulevard and they want to be where there is that history of rock and roll,” said Mr Gruendyke.
“And they want to say they’ve stayed at a place where one of their idols has stayed”.
The reporter travelled with the assistance of Visit West Hollywood