Is Chateau Marmont Haunted? John Belushi, Bungalow 3 and Hollywood's Ghosts

Chateau Marmont sits above the Sunset Strip at 8221 Sunset Boulevard, a white castle loosely modeled on the Chateau d’Amboise in France’s Loire Valley. It opened as an apartment building in 1929, became a hotel in 1931 and has since housed generations of actors, writers, musicians and directors who wanted privacy more than polish. It has 63 rooms, suites, cottages and bungalows set in a hillside garden.

Its ghost stories are as famous as its guest list. The best known centers on Bungalow 3, where John Belushi died of a drug overdose on March 5, 1982. Guests and staff also describe windows that open by themselves, furniture that moves and voices in empty rooms. The hotel itself does not promote any of this, which only adds to the mystery. See more in our guide to haunted places in Los Angeles.

The ghosts of Chateau Marmont

John Belushi and 'the funny man'

John Belushi, star of Saturday Night Live and The Blues Brothers, was staying in Bungalow 3 in early 1982. On March 5 he was found dead there of an overdose of cocaine and heroin. He was 33. The death made the hotel notorious around the world.

The story most often told, repeated by Los Angeles Magazine, says that years later a young boy staying in the bungalow was heard laughing on his own. When his parents asked what was so funny, he said he had been playing with “the funny man” and later picked out Belushi in a photograph. Other guests in Bungalow 3 say they have felt someone in the room with them and avoid looking in the mirror. It is a legend with no way of checking it, but it has followed the bungalow for decades.

Moving furniture and open windows

Away from the bungalow, the stories are less specific. Guests and staff have described windows opening on their own, furniture that has shifted overnight, voices in rooms that are empty and, in the strangest accounts, faces seen floating at upper windows.

Legends of America adds a spirit said to climb into guests’ beds. A reporter for LAist who joined an amateur ghost hunt at the hotel in 2006 recorded no apparitions, only tingling shoulders, cold spots and drafts in an otherwise ordinary room.

Famous names on the ghost list

Because so many legends have stayed here, the ghost list has grown famous too. Some local guides claim Marilyn Monroe, Howard Hughes, Boris Karloff and Jim Morrison have all been seen, though none of them died at the hotel and there are no credible first-hand reports.

One real-life story shows how easily legends begin. Life at the Marmont, a history of the hotel, tells of a young bride who stepped into an elevator and found Boris Karloff alone inside. She ran to her husband shaking and announced that the hotel had monsters living in it. Karloff was very much alive.

Other deaths at the Chateau

Belushi is not the only famous death connected to the hotel. Photographer Helmut Newton, a longtime resident, died on January 23, 2004, after suffering a heart attack and crashing his car as he pulled out of the driveway. There are no well-known ghost stories attached to him, but some guests count him among the hotel’s lingering residents.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

• Bungalow 3: Where John Belushi died in 1982 and the ‘funny man’ story begins. One of the hotel’s four bungalows, it can be requested but is hard to get.
• The cottages and bungalows: Spanish-style cottages around the pool, added in the 1930s and 1940s. Guests describe a quiet that can feel crowded.
• Upper-floor suites: Where the floating faces and opening windows are most often reported.
• The garden and lobby: Open to diners, so you can soak up the atmosphere without staying overnight.

History of Chateau Marmont

In 1926 Los Angeles attorney Fred Horowitz picked a hillside lot above Sunset Boulevard. Taken with photographs of the Chateau d’Amboise, he asked his brother-in-law, architect Arnold A. Weitzman, to design a seven-story building in its spirit. It was built to resist earthquakes and opened on February 1, 1929, as an apartment house named for Marmont Lane, the small street in front of it.

In 1931 Horowitz sold the building for $750,000 in cash to Albert E. Smith, co-founder of Vitagraph Studios, who turned it into a hotel. From about 1942 to 1963 it was owned by German banker Erwin Brettauer, who was known for welcoming Black guests at a time when many Hollywood hotels would not. Spanish-style cottages and a pool were added, and two of the four bungalows were designed by Craig Ellwood in 1956.

By the 1960s the hotel was shabby but beloved. Writers, rock musicians and actors lived here for months at a time, drawn by the privacy and the willingness of staff to look the other way. It survived the 1933, 1952, 1971, 1987 and 1994 earthquakes without serious damage and was named a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1976.

Hotelier Andre Balazs bought the Chateau in 1990 and restored it while keeping its faded charm. It has stayed in the news since: Sofia Coppola filmed Somewhere here in 2010, and in 2020 the hotel announced plans to become members-only, which were dropped in 2022 amid labor disputes and allegations from former staff that the hotel and Balazs denied.

Today Chateau Marmont remains one of the most famous hotels in the world, and its reputation for keeping secrets is the reason so many ghost stories stick to it.

Tips for a haunted stay

• Ask about the bungalows when you book. Call the hotel and request Bungalow 3 or another bungalow; it cannot be guaranteed online.
• Book well ahead. The hotel is small and in demand, especially around awards season.
• Not staying? A late dinner or drink in the garden is the easiest way to see the hotel. Be respectful: no photos of other guests.
• Stay on theme. Pair it with a night at the Hollywood Roosevelt, where Marilyn Monroe’s mirror is said to show her reflection.
• Want to investigate with a team? Haunted Rooms runs ghost hunts at historic venues across the US.

More haunted hotels nearby

• Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel: Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift, a short drive east
• The Queen Mary, Long Beach: one of the most haunted hotels in the country
• Haunted hotels in Los Angeles: every haunted place to stay in and around L.A.
• Haunted hotels in California
• Haunted hotels in Los Angeles

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.

• Wikipedia: Chateau Marmont
• Los Angeles Magazine: Four ghost stories from L.A.'s most famous haunted hotels
• Thirsty: 20 haunted historic hotels and bars in L.A.
• LAist: Ghost hunting at Chateau Marmont (2006)
• Christian Science Monitor: Life at the Marmont, stories of Hollywood stars
• Legends of America: Sleeping With Ghosts in California

Booking links on this page are affiliate links. If you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.