Sure, there are rooms and amenities and a restaurant and a pool. But more than anything else, the Chateau Marmont drips with a history, a lively solitude and an all-worlds-happily-colliding sense of home from its perch atop the Sunset Strip.

With a tony Sunset Boulevard address, this seven-story white castle (built in 1929) sees all that goes on but comments on nothing. Movie stars gather for cocktails nearly 24/7; rock stars and Republicans alike converge for impeccable, unblinking service from the seen-it-all staff. But that doesn't mean that nobody gets busted: It hasn't been long since Scarlett Johansson got in post-Oscar trouble with Benicio Del Toro in an elevator or Britney Spears was caught smooching Colin Farrell. Further back in its history, John Belushi died in a bungalow and Jim Morrison leapt from a balcony. An infamous quote from one-time Columbia Pictures head Harry Cohn has, for all intents and purposes, become the hotel's tagline (it even appears on the official website): "If you must get into trouble, do it in the Chateau Marmont." —Lonny Pugh