During the '20s, one of the great Hollywood seaside getaways was Santa Monica, and the Miramar was the perfect locale at which to hide away from the media madness and throngs of fans. In fact, a six-story Palisades Wing was built to accommodate guests intending to stay a while. One of the first famous inhabitants was Greta Garbo, newly arrived from her native Sweden, who stayed for four years. During the '70s, Faye Dunaway (above) kept a private suite, and Alan Alda lived there when filming M.A.S.H. Each bungalow offers hardwood floors, French windows, giant tubs and grand patios.
For more information: The Fairmont Miramar Hotel
For 25 years, legendary composer Cole Porter lived in a suite at the Waldorf Towers and penned several of his best-known lyrics there ("You’re the top, you’re a Waldorf salad," etc.). As a gift during his stay, the Waldorf gave him a Steinway floral print grand piano (now in the hotel’s Cocktail Terrace Lounge). Years later, one of Porter’s friends Frank Sinatra (above) lived in the very same suite with his wife until 1987. Sinatra and his wife, Barbara left a big impression - literally. She imprinted her initials on the master bedroom’s shower door, while Ol' Blue Eyes had his initials etched on another shower door.
For more information: The Waldorf
During the swinging late '60s and '70s, playboy Warren Beatty (above) lived in the top floor suite of the Wilshire Wing of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel (now called the Beverly Wilshire, a Four Seasons Hotel). It was the ideal bachelor pad for entertaining lovely co-stars like Julie Christie. Wife Annette Bening is said to have rented the suite to celebrate one of their anniversaries. The former bachelor pad is now called the Veranda suite; guests enter via a private wrought iron stairway, and the 750-square-foot room offers a canopy bed and an enormous rooftop garden terrace with magnificent views of the Hollywood and Beverly hills.
For more information: Four Seasons Hotel
“Staying at the Ritz is an experience,” offers hotel press attaché Matthieu Goffard. The hotel was the ideal home for Mademoiselle Coco Chanel (above) for over 35 years. Guest can now stay at the Coco Chanel suite. Art historian Patrick Hourcade (who worked at Vogue for 13 years) took painstaking effort to recreate the two bedroom suite in true Chanel style. The result is pure Coco panache—rare pieces from Christies and Sotheby's—grand sofas with the signature Chanel quilting, and state-of-the art amenities including walk-in-closets and a Jacuzzi.
For more information: The Ritz Paris
The Hotel Chelsea mantra is that it’s a “rest stop for rare individuals.” Arthur C. Clarke, wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey while living at the hotel, Joni Mitchell created the song Chelsea Morning during her stay, and William Burrows authored parts of Naked Lunch there. Artist Willem de Kooning, Bob Dylan (above), Jane Fonda (who starred in Klute with fellow Chelsea alum Donald Sutherland), Jasper Johns, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Vladimir Nabokov, and a host of others resided there too. Ethan Hawke, who lived at the hotel and directed the film Chelsea Walls there once noted that you could feel the creativity in the walls. “You'd read about the punks and Dylan Thomas, Thomas Wolfe and Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe fighting in the lobby. I was like, "Whoa—I have to go to that hotel!" said the actor.
Set on a on a residential tree-lined avenue, this low key but luxurious hotel is so committed to privacy that its spa and gym are reserved for guests only. Other touches make it feel like home, which long-term residents like actor James Woods adore. Once operated as one of the best apartment buildings in town, the inviting lobby is called a living room. Every guest is offered personal residence cards and stationary with their name, fax and phone number. The room entrances are recessed, which makes for a more residential feel, and they even have doorbells. And if you’re hungry at 2 a.m., you can get anything from the normal menu 24 hours a day with no extra charge for room service (celebrities appreciate that too).
Claude Monet was so enchanted by the view of the Thames from the Savoy, he lived at the hotel for months at a time between 1899 and 1901, and painted over 70 canvases from his fifth floor suite. Other famous guests have included Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Catherine Zeta Jones (above), Harvey Keitel, Michael Douglas, Paul Newman, Marlene Dietrich and Goldie Hawn. The hotel's "Monet Suite Experience" features two nights in The Monet Suite, where Neil Meacher can work with you to capture the Thames like the master did.
For more information: The Savoy
In 1927, the original media mogul William Randolph Hearst built the The Warwick so his well-heeled Hollywood pals could have a impressive abode in New York (he also desired a pied-á-terre for his mistress actress Marion Davies). By the '50s, Paramount Pictures enlisted the hotel as the go-to place for all their A-listers who filmed in New York. James Dean, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Elvis Presley (who stayed at the hotel before his notable Ed Sullivan show performance), The Beatles, and twelve-year resident Cary Grant were drawn to the hotel’s impeccable service and majestic Central Park views.
For more information: Warwick
As Chateau Marmont owner Andre Balazs once said “Hotels unleash passions in people; that is why an inordinate number of affairs and scandals unfold in hotels.” And the hotel known as the Castle on the Hill has inspired its fair share. It’s where resident Howard Hughes used binoculars from his bungalow to scout women who were poolside. It’s where Leonardo DiCaprio (above), Robert DeNiro and Keanu Reeves and scores of other stars have holed up (some stars reportedly rarely leave their rooms). With just 63 spacious guest quarters, the place offers the ultimate in privacy. Stars can move from their rooms to the garage while avoiding the lobby altogether. “I probably spend more time here than my home,” actress Famke Janssen told Forbes Traveler. “It's this great old building with a lot of history. The rooms are really big… it’s like an apartment.”
For more information: Chateau Marmont
For several years, when he was a San Diego Padres star outfielder, Ryan Klesko (above) kept a condo at the Omni Hotel San Diego next to Petco Park Stadium where he played. “It’s the best view ever. Out my window you can see the Coronado Islands, Point Loma and all the way to Mexico. You can look down into the stadium and watch the ballgame too,” Klesko told Sports Illustrated. The hotel is in a 32-floor high-rise, and the top 11 floors are penthouse condominiums called the Metropolitan. In fact, the hotel connects to the ballpark via a sky bridge (which is the first of its kind), which makes the commute for Klesko a breeze. As Klesko has said, “I can just head across the walkway after a night game, get some sleep, then roll of out of bed the next morning and boom, I'm already at the ballpark."
For more information: Omni Hotel San Diego
During World War II, in need of a London headquarters, General Dwight D. Eisenhower moved into the The Dorchester. In fact, because of its reinforced concrete structure, it was said to be one of the safest hotels in the city. He stayed in rooms 104 and 105 on the first floor, now dubbed the Eisenhower suite. To ensure the general’s privacy, Winston Churchill requested that a wall be built between the balcony and adjacent room and the structure remains to this day. Eisenhower and various generals were said to have planned the invasion of Normandy from the room. Other long-term guests have included Julie Andrews and Elizabeth Taylor (above) who has been staying at the Dorchester since she was 17.
For more information: The Dorchester