Time magazine called it “an old rock-“n”-roll hotel.” Jed Lieber, owner of Nightbird Studios, more accurately says it “really is the Hotel California.” Courtney Love, who left a suicide note in her room there after a fight with Trent Reznor of the Nine Inch Nails, wrote a song named after it. You could spot Keith Richards at the bar and hear Whitney Houston singing in her bungalow.
The Sunset Marquis celebrates its 50th anniversary in April, and the Hollywood Reporter, getting ahead of the game, has just published a series of quick quotes from some of the more famous and infamous guests of what it calls “Secrets of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Wild Hotel.” At 1200 Alta Loma Rd., just south of Sunset, the Sunset Marquis has been the mecca for the Sunset Strip’s music crowd since it opened and is one of West Hollywood’s true landmarks. For stories from the inside, take a look at the Reporter’s story online http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/sunset-marquis-secrets-rock-n-419290.
The article does not mention it but Van Heflin died after suffering a heart attack in the Sunset Marquis pool in June 1971.