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New Miniseries Will Explore Chateau Marmont's Celeb-Filled Past

Where: 8221 Sunset Blvd. [map], Hollywood, CA, United States, 90046

The Chateau Marmont has had its share in the spotlight, most recently in the Sofia Coppola-helmed flick Somewhere. But now the West Hollywood hotel will have its own starring role in a new miniseries from Office star John Krasinski and Social Network scribe Aaron Sorkin, Deadline Hollywood reported.

The duo will executive produce the hotel-set HBO show with hotelier Andre Balazs and his daughter Alessandra. (Aha! So this is that TV show Andre was working on.) It will be based off the book Life at the Marmont by former hotel co-owner Raymond R. Sarlot and Fred Basten.

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Spend the Weekend with the Chateau Marmont 'Somewhere'

Where: 8221 W. Sunset Boulevard [map], West Hollywood, CA, United States, 90069

The critics so far have loved Sofia Coppola's latest movie, Somewhere, which takes place (as every hotel geek already knows) in the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood. And now, we can finally go see it for ourselves.

The movie was released on Wednesday in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington and we just happen to be in one of those cities right now. The movie will have a wider national release in January.

In case you haven't read our previous stories on the movie, this is what it's about:

Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff) is a bad-boy A-List actor stumbling through a life of excess while living at Hollywood’s legendary Chateau Marmont Hotel. His days are a haze of drinks, girls, fast cars and fawning fans. Cocooned in this celebrity-induced artificial world, Johnny has lost all sense of his true self. Until, that is, his 11-year-old daughter Cleo (Elle Fanning) unexpectedly shows up and unwittingly begins to anchor him.

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The Chateau Marmont Wins At The Venice Film Festival

Where: 8221 W. Sunset Boulevard [map], West Hollywood, CA, United States, 90069

This weekend, the Venice Film Festival came to a close and the big winner was the Chateau Marmont.

Well, OK, it was director Sofia Coppola who snagged the Golden Lion for Best Film--but the real star of that film, Somewhere, is the West Hollywood celeb haunt. (Sorry, Dorffy.)

Coppola said that the award would help the film's chances once it is released in December--and we're betting that the movie will also make the Chateau's decadent allure even more irresistible.

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Celebrity Scoop / Lindsay Lohan / AB Hotels / West Hollywood Hotels / → All Tags

Lindsay Lohan's First Hotel Stop After Rehab? The Chateau Of Course

Where: 8221 W Sunset Blvd [map], West Hollywood, CA, United States, 90046

As Jennifer Aniston can attest, old hotel habits die hard. Lindsay Lohan has only been out of rehab less than a week but she's already making her way around town. And her first hotel stop out of rehab? The Chateau Marmont of course. At 11pm at night. Radar Online reports:

Lindsay drove to hotel in a brand new $150,000 Maserati Gran Turismo, with her friend Eilat Anschel arriving there at about 11 pm. They stayed for just over two hours, hanging out in the lounge with other friends.

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Sofia Coppola's New Movie 'Somewhere' Takes Place at Chateau Marmont

Where: 8221 W. Sunset Boulevard [map], West Hollywood, CA, United States, 90069

These days it's impossible to flip through the gamut of television channels fed in by eager cable providers without spotting a hotel as the setting for a reality show adventure or a competition/contest or even a highly sought-after news interview (Remember Rihanna at GPH?). Heck, even Boomer Esiason and the Geico Caveman were shilling for Westin Hotels during the Super Bowl Pre-Game show.

Yet when it comes to true hotel stardom, the big screen still rules. Case in point: Hilton Hotels got a huge lift from being prominently featured in George Clooney's Oscar-nominated pic, Up in the Air. The same goes for any hotel featured in the Sex and the City movies. And the entire Couples Retreat movie was shot on-location at the St. Regis Bora Bora. But as usual, we're more interested in the indie scene.

Director Sofia Coppola's first big hit, Lost in Translation, prominently featured the Park Hyatt Tokyo and in her soon-to-be-released film, Somewhere, the legendary Chateau Marmont has a starring role.

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Another Reason to Stay at Chateau Marmont: Personalized Stationery

There's a lot to love at Chateau Marmont, where the starlets are plentiful and the security practically fortress-like: a hotel bar you actually want to visit, and elaborate dishware for lattes that we once saw Gael Garcia Bernal ogling in person, for instance.

When you're shelling out the kind of cash that le Chateau requires for its doting service (and, oh, how they dote on their famous friends), unsolicited perks are common—more than your simple chocolate on the pillow at turndown, that's certain.

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Andre B.'s Sunset Beach Opens For the Season on May 15th

Where: 35 Shore Road [map], Shelter Island, ny, United States, 11965

Andre Balazs's Sunset Beach on Long Island will open for the season on May 15th. But there are two things you should know before we continue: number one, Andre Balazs has a property on Long Island (Shelter Island, actually). Number two: not many of us are aware of this because, as we like to say, it's kinda his deep, dark secret. Last we checked, we had some outdated rooms, dirty linens, and decidely un-Balazs-y decor.

But who knows: that was two seasons ago in '07, and maybe the place has been spiffed up since then.

Our point here is that the place — with its 20 rooms — will open up on Friday, and rates are slightly lower than last year's seasonal rates. This year, you can get a room at $220 during the week and $420 on the weekends; last year's were $245 on weeknights and $420 on weekends.

Also, this year the hotel's restaurant is serving boatside from Sunset Beach's very own dingy. And oh, the wine is already on ice for you: Andre's launched his private-label Rose for the season. Yes, really.

[Photo: Lucifer Bumps]

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Standard LA Charged With Illegally Disposing Of Hazardous Waste

Where: 550 S. Flower St [map], Los Angeles, CA, United States

This is what happens when you cut out early for the weekend--a hip hotel gets charged with illegally disposing of hazardous waste.

While Andre Balazs might be the hottest hotelier around these days, something not so pretty was going down at the Standard Downtown LA.

Andre Balazs' hotel management company has been charged with one felony count of disposing hazardous waste without a permit, according to a federal complaint which made the news today. AB Hotels could be fined up to $500,000 if convicted. So what was the hotel doing with the hazardous waste? This:

The complaint alleges that hotel employees poured acid and chlorine down a roof drain beside the hotel pool at The Standard on Jan. 19. The chemicals snaked down to a street-level storm drain, and the fumes caused people to start vomiting at a subway station two blocks away.

"They thought initially it was a terrorist incident," said Johns. "You get a report of chlorine gas in the subway, and everyone starts thinking nerve gas a la Tokyo."

"We are sorry for this employee mistake involving diluted swimming pool chemicals," Nadine Johnson, a spokeswoman for The Standard, said in a statement. "We will continue to assist the government."

The complaint singles out a hotel supervisor who instructed an employee to run water down the drain as he pumped chemicals out of two 50-gallon tanks. The water supposedly was to used to not make the chemicals "so hazardous." Except people started vomiting in the subway. Hotel Hell indeed.

Hotel Restaurants / Manhattan Hotels / AB Hotels / → All Tags

Gearing Up for NY Restaurant Week With The Mercer Kitchen

Where: 147 Mercer Street [map], New York, ny, United States, 10012

If there is one place that can get away with sitting you underneath an active sidewalk with the possibility of plaster falling into your food, then it is Mercer Kitchen at The Mercer Hotel. A magnet for hungry hipsters in Soho, Mercer Kitchen owes its fame to the fashion set who regularly make The Mercer their hideout of choice. With Restaurant Week quickly creeping up on New York, we decided to do a little sniffing around the scene by hitting up a Sunday brunch.

Since The Mercer is something of a legend among New York hotels, you can imagine that the room rates are sky-high; think $495 a night for a courtyard-facing room during low season, and an extra $200 if you stay during any of the high fashion holidays (if you can get a room). Luckily the Mercer Kitchen accommodates a more casual and less indulgent crowd. Typical brunch meals, like our goat cheese omelet and roasted potatoes, cost between $10 and $15, or opt for a 3-course prix fixe meal available year-round, at $24 for lunch or $35 for dinner.

For once, the place wasn't packed to the gills for brunch--probably because everyone has reservations for next week--and we were able to scope out a mixture of downtown kids and older tourists. The food didn't blow us away, but at least it's an economical way to bask in the glow of The Mercer and fill up our bellies at the same time.

[Photo: jeffsb*]

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All-Star Map :: Andre Balazs' Real and Rumored Hotels

We're very visual people and we assume all hotel geeks are as well — so when we've got a whole bunch of info about hotels in an area, we map 'em all for you so you can see the big picture. We've been all over the maps this year (again with the wordplay!), and it was tough to pick a fave among hits like our Thompson Hotels Map charting the progress of the rapidly-growing chain; our Beijing Olympics Map, our Malibu Beach Hotels map and the definitive guide to the hotels you should hit up in Carmel... but one came out on top for us: hottie hotelier Andre Balazs' Real and Rumored Hotels Map.

We promise we're not just picking this just because we heart Andre (we pink heart him, in fact), but Balazs' hotels — the Standard properties among them — have consistently been the most fun for us to gossip about ... not to mention the board-game-esque rush we get from mapping out all the rumored hotels around Manhattan and separating fact from Page Six column fodder.

Another hotel near the Standard NYC? Or was it just a private club? A Sin City hotel for Sir Balazs? So many questions — and we did our best to dig up the truth. Yup, we did the dirty work (and the mapping!) so you didn't have to. You're welcome, Andre fans.

Art Basel / Hotel Amenities / Hotel Art / AB Hotels / Standard Hotels / Miami Hotel Mambo / → All Tags

Art Basel Inspires The Standard and The Raleigh's Towel Art

Rejoice: we have found the perfect holiday gift that you can distribute to that artsy sister of yours, your hotel-geek friends and your "practical gifts only" mother. Though today's HotelChatter holiday shopping recommendations were not half as fun to spend time researching as the collection of items we picked out at the HHonors store (they have raincoats for dogs! Come on!), this is still kinda kickass: towel art.

Yeah, that sounds fairly unexciting and likely conjures up images of monkeys and elephants built from cruise-ship towels, but think of it like this: you can wrap your body in art, people. The artwork is printed on the towel.

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Miami Hotel Mambo / Hotel Deals / AB Hotels / Hotel Bicycles / → All Tags

The Raleigh Hotel Says You Can Be Chic and Green At The Same Time

Where: 1775 Collins Avenue [map], Miami Beach, fl, United States, 33139

Surround yourself in art-deco luxury while you pat yourself on the back for being green - and saving some green. The Raleigh Hotel in Miami Beach is offering a last chance for summer fun rate of $175 (for an ocean view room!), a $20 gas rebate, and use of their bicycles to explore South Beach.

This is seriously your last chance - the rate is good only through September 30. Use the code SUMMER when you book online.

If you can tear yourself away from the pool scene--complete with the waterfall, the bar and the lovely pool attendants and their cool scented towels--you can tool around South Beach without putting out any of those ugly emissions. Bicycling the day away, you'll also work up an appetite for dinner, which you must take under the moon in the Upper Terrace.

By the end of your day biking the beach, sipping martinis by the pool and feasting in the night air, you will no doubt be exhausted, so it's a good thing you can fall into your bed dressed with 400 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets and linen duvet. And while you're in there, you should order the in-room massage. You know you've earned it.