Preston Sturges-‘The Players’ restaurant
In the 1940s, there was a tunnel beneath the street, connecting the Chateau Marmont to ‘The Players’ restaurant!
The Players restaurant is the smaller pink building – in front of Chateau Marmont.
I discovered Preston Sturges only recently, after a visit to Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles. Someone mentioned that the Chateau used to have a tunnel under the road to the hottest Hollywood restaurant of the 1940s.
What a cool idea! Great way to avoid the paparazzi – also provides interesting options during a break between Entree and dessert…
The restaurant was called The Players and was owned by legendary writer/director Preston Sturges. “Who?” I thought. So I look him up… and found a forgotten genius.
Sturges was the charismatic host to Hollywood’s elite for over a decade. The man hardly slept as he also used The Players as a place to write.
“After hours, at The Players, he began to work. It took him a while to get his engines going, but when he found the rhythm – what a change! He became the character he was writing. His voice broke and tears cursed down his cheeks, and your heart would be gripped.
sandy his typist (later his wife)
And just as suddenly the voice of an angry character would turn his face red. Characters came alive through him.”
