The Golden Globes are dubbed the “party of the year,” and with every great event in Tinseltown, there’s typically a long wind up and a ton of ancillary shindigs. But 2024 is a new year and Hollywood is not the same place it once was.
On Friday evening, however, the scene outside Chateau Marmont mirrored pre-pandemic days. A huge crowd of fans packed onto the slim sidewalk above Sunset Boulevard. Paparazzi scrambled to get pics of Margot Robbie, Greta Gerwig, Nicolas Cage and Emma Stone as they exited their respective SUVs and headed upstairs for cameos at W Magazine’s annual best performances party in the hotel’s disco ball-decorated penthouse. Chateau’s chic gatekeeper Anya Varda was overheard exhaling, “they hate me,” in reference to the paps or the fans, but either could be true.
Outside penthouse 64, party crashers worked the door, dropping names and attempting to get in...
On Friday evening, however, the scene outside Chateau Marmont mirrored pre-pandemic days. A huge crowd of fans packed onto the slim sidewalk above Sunset Boulevard. Paparazzi scrambled to get pics of Margot Robbie, Greta Gerwig, Nicolas Cage and Emma Stone as they exited their respective SUVs and headed upstairs for cameos at W Magazine’s annual best performances party in the hotel’s disco ball-decorated penthouse. Chateau’s chic gatekeeper Anya Varda was overheard exhaling, “they hate me,” in reference to the paps or the fans, but either could be true.
Outside penthouse 64, party crashers worked the door, dropping names and attempting to get in...
- 1/9/2024
- by Chris Gardner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Workers at Chateau Marmont “overwhelmingly ratified” their first-ever union contract with the Hollywood hotspot on Wednesday night, in what Unite Here Local 11 is calling “a historic breakthrough.”
The new contract, taking effect immediately, comes following years of unrest at the Chateau, which laid off nearly 250 staffers near the start of the Covid pandemic and has for years been the subject of complaints, lawsuits and boycotts by workers alleging sexual misconduct and racial discrimination, among other misdeeds.
Offerings under the contract will include an immediate 25 wage increase for returning workers not receiving tips, free family health insurance for workers on the clock for 60 or more hours per month, free legal services for immigration, consumer and tenant issues, a union pension fund, and the recognition of Juneteenth as a paid holiday, to name a few.
The venue owned by André Balazs first agreed to recognize the union in August, with negotiations between...
The new contract, taking effect immediately, comes following years of unrest at the Chateau, which laid off nearly 250 staffers near the start of the Covid pandemic and has for years been the subject of complaints, lawsuits and boycotts by workers alleging sexual misconduct and racial discrimination, among other misdeeds.
Offerings under the contract will include an immediate 25 wage increase for returning workers not receiving tips, free family health insurance for workers on the clock for 60 or more hours per month, free legal services for immigration, consumer and tenant issues, a union pension fund, and the recognition of Juneteenth as a paid holiday, to name a few.
The venue owned by André Balazs first agreed to recognize the union in August, with negotiations between...
- 12/23/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
It’s over. Four months after unionizing — and three years since a nascent organizing drive quietly began before the pandemic hit — workers at the Chateau Marmont have ratified their first contract following negotiations with owner André Balazs. Unite Here Local 11, which represents more than 32,000 hospitality employees, now including those at the legendary Sunset Strip lodging, said the agreement “sets a new standard for boutique hotels.”
The deal features an immediate 25 percent wage increase for returning non-tipped workers (housekeepers will earn 25 an hour within one year); free family health insurance for workers who work a minimum of 60 hours per month; free legal services for immigration, consumer and tenant issues; and unprecedented protections for immigrants — workers with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Dreamers) or Temporary Protected Status authorizations have five years to return should Congress or the Supreme Court eliminate the programs.
“The Chateau definitely negotiated in good faith,...
It’s over. Four months after unionizing — and three years since a nascent organizing drive quietly began before the pandemic hit — workers at the Chateau Marmont have ratified their first contract following negotiations with owner André Balazs. Unite Here Local 11, which represents more than 32,000 hospitality employees, now including those at the legendary Sunset Strip lodging, said the agreement “sets a new standard for boutique hotels.”
The deal features an immediate 25 percent wage increase for returning non-tipped workers (housekeepers will earn 25 an hour within one year); free family health insurance for workers who work a minimum of 60 hours per month; free legal services for immigration, consumer and tenant issues; and unprecedented protections for immigrants — workers with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Dreamers) or Temporary Protected Status authorizations have five years to return should Congress or the Supreme Court eliminate the programs.
“The Chateau definitely negotiated in good faith,...
- 12/23/2022
- by Gary Baum
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Click here to read the full article.
The famed Chateau Marmont, a perennially trendy industry hangout which had turned radioactive in recent years over toxic workplace allegations, is set to unionize, according to a joint memo released by owner Andre Balazs and the co-president of Unite Here Local 11, which had long been seeking to organize the hotel. “All prior disputes have been laid to rest,” they wrote in the statement, released on Aug. 25. “Both the Chateau Marmont and Unite Here Local 11 are pleased with this new relationship. We believe that it solidifies the foundation of the Chateau’s historic success: the commitment to its guests and employees, both of which are famous for their loyalty and longevity.”
A bargaining committee will now begin negotiations on a first contract.
The iconic Sunset Strip lodging had faced years of lawsuits, protests and a celebrity-backed boycott. Employees had described a pattern of sexual misconduct,...
The famed Chateau Marmont, a perennially trendy industry hangout which had turned radioactive in recent years over toxic workplace allegations, is set to unionize, according to a joint memo released by owner Andre Balazs and the co-president of Unite Here Local 11, which had long been seeking to organize the hotel. “All prior disputes have been laid to rest,” they wrote in the statement, released on Aug. 25. “Both the Chateau Marmont and Unite Here Local 11 are pleased with this new relationship. We believe that it solidifies the foundation of the Chateau’s historic success: the commitment to its guests and employees, both of which are famous for their loyalty and longevity.”
A bargaining committee will now begin negotiations on a first contract.
The iconic Sunset Strip lodging had faced years of lawsuits, protests and a celebrity-backed boycott. Employees had described a pattern of sexual misconduct,...
- 8/25/2022
- by Gary Baum
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
To a young generation, The Standard — which closed on Jan. 22, 2021 — was where they all came of age in Hollywood. They spent all their 20s at the pool and then they spent their 30s or 40s at Giorgio’s. They grew up with that hotel.
On opening night in 1999, I helped with the door for [then-owner] André Balazs, and I’m not a door-person. Monica Lewinsky showed up with a camera crew and I knew exactly who she was. I guess she was doing a documentary. I looked at the list and she was not on the ...
On opening night in 1999, I helped with the door for [then-owner] André Balazs, and I’m not a door-person. Monica Lewinsky showed up with a camera crew and I knew exactly who she was. I guess she was doing a documentary. I looked at the list and she was not on the ...
- 1/27/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Celebrity hotelier André Balazs announced a pandemic pivot July 28. He intended to turn his flagship lodging, the industry favorite Chateau Marmont, into an as-yet-unpriced private timeshare — though promising to keep its perennially trendy restaurant open to non-equity members. While the news was bemoaned across Hollywood as the loss of a storied hotel, for many of its staffers, 248 of whom were laid off at the onset of the coronavirus outbreak in mid-March, the move suggested something more nefarious: a ploy to bust their attempts at a union.
An organizing drive had quietly begun in the months before the plague hit,...
An organizing drive had quietly begun in the months before the plague hit,...
- 9/16/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Celebrity hotelier André Balazs announced a pandemic pivot July 28. He intended to turn his flagship lodging, the industry favorite Chateau Marmont, into an as-yet-unpriced private timeshare — though promising to keep its perennially trendy restaurant open to non-equity members. While the news was bemoaned across Hollywood as the loss of a storied hotel, for many of its staffers, 248 of whom were laid off at the onset of the coronavirus outbreak in mid-March, the move suggested something more nefarious: a ploy to bust their attempts at a union.
An organizing drive had quietly begun in the months before the plague hit,...
An organizing drive had quietly begun in the months before the plague hit,...
- 9/16/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Just a few weeks after André Balazs bought the Chateau Marmont — he reportedly paid a little over $12 million for the 61-year-old, 63-room hotel in 1990 — he ran into legendary photographer Helmut Newton and his wife, June, in the lobby. The couple had been living part-time at the hotel for about three years.
“I introduced myself as the new owner, and we sat down and Helmut leaned back in the sofa,” Balazs recalls in an exclusive interview with Variety from his farm in upstate New York. “He starts telling me, ‘André, I’m so delighted to meet you, but whatever you do, don’t f— it up. Don’t f— up the hotel. It’s perfect.’ And as he’s saying that the sofa seam rips and a spring pops out.”
While Newton may have been enamored with the Chateau’s history and old Hollywood charm, Balazs knew things had to change.
“I introduced myself as the new owner, and we sat down and Helmut leaned back in the sofa,” Balazs recalls in an exclusive interview with Variety from his farm in upstate New York. “He starts telling me, ‘André, I’m so delighted to meet you, but whatever you do, don’t f— it up. Don’t f— up the hotel. It’s perfect.’ And as he’s saying that the sofa seam rips and a spring pops out.”
While Newton may have been enamored with the Chateau’s history and old Hollywood charm, Balazs knew things had to change.
- 8/12/2020
- by Marc Malkin
- Variety Film + TV
André Balazs announced that he intends to convert Los Angeles’ iconic Chateau Marmont hotel into a private residential club by the end of the year.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published Tuesday, Balazs said the 91-year-old Hollywood institution long associated with celebrities and celebrity excess is among several hotel properties worldwide that he is considering turning into private clubs. He has flirted with the idea for at least three years, he said, but the pandemic-related shutdowns in cities across the world have accelerated those plans.
According to the Journal, Balazs said the plan would be something similar to timeshares; guests could purchase “ownership stakes” which would make them “club members,” allowing them access to residences at multiple locations. In addition to the Chateau Marmont, Balazs owns dozens of hotels worldwide — including the Mercer Hotel in Manhattan and London’s Chiltern Firehouse.
Balazs told the paper that the...
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published Tuesday, Balazs said the 91-year-old Hollywood institution long associated with celebrities and celebrity excess is among several hotel properties worldwide that he is considering turning into private clubs. He has flirted with the idea for at least three years, he said, but the pandemic-related shutdowns in cities across the world have accelerated those plans.
According to the Journal, Balazs said the plan would be something similar to timeshares; guests could purchase “ownership stakes” which would make them “club members,” allowing them access to residences at multiple locations. In addition to the Chateau Marmont, Balazs owns dozens of hotels worldwide — including the Mercer Hotel in Manhattan and London’s Chiltern Firehouse.
Balazs told the paper that the...
- 7/29/2020
- by Ross A. Lincoln
- The Wrap
The longtime owner of Chateau Marmont wants to turn the L.A. landmark into a private club as the coronavirus pandemic continues to disrupt the status quo.
In an interview published Tuesday in Wall Street Journal, André Balazs said he wants out of the traditional hotel biz and is looking to convert the nearly 90-year-old Marmont into a private residential space by the end of 2020. He told the paper he has been considering the idea for some three years, and the Covid-19 era has sped up his timeframe.
Balazs, who also owns the posh Mercer in Manhattan and London’s Chiltern Firehouse, also is mulling the idea of selling ownership stakes in his properties to guests who become club members and who would own part of multiple residences in his hotels. He noted that guests would be cool with staying where they knew many of the other people staying at the properties.
In an interview published Tuesday in Wall Street Journal, André Balazs said he wants out of the traditional hotel biz and is looking to convert the nearly 90-year-old Marmont into a private residential space by the end of 2020. He told the paper he has been considering the idea for some three years, and the Covid-19 era has sped up his timeframe.
Balazs, who also owns the posh Mercer in Manhattan and London’s Chiltern Firehouse, also is mulling the idea of selling ownership stakes in his properties to guests who become club members and who would own part of multiple residences in his hotels. He noted that guests would be cool with staying where they knew many of the other people staying at the properties.
- 7/29/2020
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
Since Jeffrey Epstein’s death under mysterious circumstances last summer, conspiracy theorists of all stripes have been making hay with it, connecting any and all people who have ever been directly or indirectly associated with him to any and all criminal cases of the past 40 years. So it was only a matter of time before that happened with the case of JonBenét Ramsey, the six-year-old Colorado beauty queen who was found murdered in her home on Christmas Day 1996.
According to the theory, which first took root on Twitter and Reddit,...
According to the theory, which first took root on Twitter and Reddit,...
- 7/10/2020
- by EJ Dickson
- Rollingstone.com
Celebrity hotelier André Balazs is being accused of sexual misconduct by Jason Bateman's wife, Amanda Anka. In a new report from The New York Times, Anka alleges Balazs groped her at a 2014 dinner party held following the premiere of Bateman's film, Horrible Bosses 2. The Arrested Development star defended Anka's account in a joint statement from his publicist to the publication: "On behalf of Jason Bateman and Amanda Anka, we can confirm that the account of André Balazs's outrageous and vile behavior on that night in London is factual. His actions were dealt with at the time." Balazs did not return the Times' repeated...
- 11/10/2017
- E! Online
Jason Bateman’s wife Amanda Anka was groped by the hotel owner André Balazs in 2014, according to a report in the New York Times on Thursday. The inappropriate contact occurred at a dinner party hosted at one of Balazs’ London hotels following the premiere of “Horrible Bosses 2.” According to the report, Balazs stuck his hand underneath Anka’s skirt and grabbed her crotch. In response, Bateman spit his gum in the Balazs’ face and the couple left the hotel. Through a spokesperson, Bateman and Anka confirmed the account, calling the behavior “outrageous and vile.” The story was also corroborated by witnesses,...
- 11/10/2017
- by Reid Nakamura
- The Wrap
Jason Bateman’s wife Amanda Anka is among those accusing famous hotelier André Balazs of sexual misconduct in a New York Times report published Thursday.
Through their mutual representative, Bateman and Anka confirmed that Balazs, who owns celebrity hotspots like the Standard, the Mercer in London and Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood, Calif, groped Anka’s crotch in Nov. 2014.
The couple were allegedly celebrating the release of Bateman’s film Horrible Bosses 2 at Balazs’s hotel, the Chiltern Firehouse in London, with the hotelier and some of their costars, including Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day.
According to the Times,...
Through their mutual representative, Bateman and Anka confirmed that Balazs, who owns celebrity hotspots like the Standard, the Mercer in London and Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood, Calif, groped Anka’s crotch in Nov. 2014.
The couple were allegedly celebrating the release of Bateman’s film Horrible Bosses 2 at Balazs’s hotel, the Chiltern Firehouse in London, with the hotelier and some of their costars, including Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day.
According to the Times,...
- 11/9/2017
- by Mike Miller
- PEOPLE.com
Just friends - or something more? Chloë Grace Moretz and Brooklyn Beckham were spotted leaving a posh London hotspot Thursday, more than a year after the pair were romantically linked. The duo separately exited Chiltern Firehouse around midnight after spending time together at the upscale restaurant within the André Balazs-owned boutique hotel, per multiple reports. The latest hangout comes after the actress, 18, and model, 16, got close in 2014, attending the Teen Choice Awards together and enjoying spin class dates. Although the pair never confirmed their status, Moretz did offer a clue about their connection at the time. "What I find...
- 1/22/2016
- PEOPLE.com
Bradley Cooper, Olivia Wilde and Jon Hamm are among 113 stars thanking President Barack Obama for introducing new executive orders on gun control this week. "Like you, and like most Americans, we have had Enough. We have had enough of seeing unthinkable tragedies happen and nothing being done," reads a letter signed by the stars and organized by the Brady Campaign and Center to Prevent Gun Violence. "This level of depravity should rattle anyone with a conscience. We have seen how it has visibly." The letter names recent mass shootings - from Sandy Hook to San Bernardino - as evidence that action needs to be taken.
- 1/8/2016
- by Aaron Couch, @AaronCouch
- PEOPLE.com
Bradley Cooper, Olivia Wilde and Jon Hamm are among 113 stars thanking President Barack Obama for introducing new executive orders on gun control this week. "Like you, and like most Americans, we have had Enough. We have had enough of seeing unthinkable tragedies happen and nothing being done," reads a letter signed by the stars and organized by the Brady Campaign and Center to Prevent Gun Violence. "This level of depravity should rattle anyone with a conscience. We have seen how it has visibly." The letter names recent mass shootings - from Sandy Hook to San Bernardino - as evidence that action needs to be taken.
- 1/8/2016
- by Aaron Couch, @AaronCouch
- PEOPLE.com
Chelsea Handler can make light of practically anything - even her own ski injury. The talk show host Tweeted a picture of herself in a bathrobe while lying in bed with a hurt leg, and showing a lot more of it than just the part in the cast. "Another day of skiing, and whoopsie. I come home now," Handler, 38, wrote in the caption. Handler's sense of humor is still intact, as is, it seems, her fitness regimen. The comic, who recently split from her boyfriend André Balazs, may have to spend this New Year's Eve at home with her foot propped up on a cushion.
- 12/30/2013
- by Sheila Cosgrove Baylis
- PEOPLE.com
Russell Brand has been ''quietly dating'' hotel heiress Alessandra Balazs, according to reports. The 38-year-old former sex addict - who split from Katy Perry in December 2011 after 14 months of marriage and divorced her in 2012 - has been romantically linked to the beauty, the daughter of André Balazs, for several months and has even splashed out by taking her on posh vacations. A source told the MailOnline: ''Russell and Alessandra have been quietly dating for months now and [have] even gone on holidays together and, he took her to London with him.'' The pair were first spotted...
- 6/7/2013
- Virgin Media - Celebrity
Uma Thurman and her hotelier boyfriend Andre Balazs have ended their three-year romance, less than a week after tabloid reports in the US had the couple planning a summer wedding. The couple began dating in 2003, but have split up twice. Thurman and her aides aren't commenting on the latest split, but the actress confirmed the pair had split last year when she turned up at the Oscars without him. She said then, "Unfortunately, it is true... but we remain close friends." The couple reconciled last year, and recent reports suggested Thurman's ex-husband, Ethan Hawke, had been overheard telling friends the actress was planning a summer wedding in the Caribbean.
- 3/20/2007
- WENN
Uma Thurman and Andre Balazs' romance is definitely back on - they have been spotted vacationing together in Denmark. The Pulp Fiction actress, 36, officially split from the 48-year-old hotelier in March - confirmed by her publicist last month. Thurman stunned fans when she turned up the Oscars in March without Balazs, bringing her publicist Robert Garlock instead. But during recent promotional work in the UK for her film My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Thurman hinted their relationship was back on, declaring, "How do you know I've broken up with him? It might very well just be on-and-off again. Who knows?" And the pair were spotted walking hand-in-hand in Danish capital Copenhagen's famous Tivoli Gardens amusement park on Wednesday. After enjoying the sights of Tivoli, the couple were invited by restaurateur Paul Cunningham to dine in his eatery The Paul. Following their meal, the pair rented a pair of bicycles and pedalled through the city, despite the heavy rain. When asked by a photographer if she was on business in Copenhagen, Thurman replied, "I'm just on holiday." Thurman and Balazs - owner of Hollywood's famed Chateau Marmont hotel - first started dating in December 2003, three months after the actress split from her now ex-husband Ethan Hawke. When the pair split in March, Thurman insisted they remain "close friends", while Balasz said they were simply "taking a break".
- 9/1/2006
- WENN
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