Ep 875 : Mark Rosenthal owner of the Sunset Marquis Rock n Roll Hotel

Happy Labor Day, my friends. September 7th. It is a brand new episode today. Thank you for joining the show. Before I get into everything, I just want to give you guys a shout out on my tour dates. That is why I do the podcast so you guys will be hip to my tour dates. Put some butts in the seats. Going to be in New Orleans September 19th with the great Bill Burr. Tickets available at dean delelray.com. I'll be headlining one of my favorite clubs in America, The Comedy Fort, October 23 and 24. Also, you can join me in Phoenix, Arizona Halloween weekend at the Desert Ridge Improv. And I will be part of the fantastic Flyover Comedy Festival once again in St. Louis November 14th. All the tickets are available on dean delyray.com. Also, there is a brand new bonus episode of Let There Be Talk on my Patreon. There's 2019s and 80s and Led Zeppelin bootlegs, my motorcycle crash anniversary, which is today. I believe it's 10 years or something like that. 10 years ago today, I was run over on my motorcycle by a methhead and a few other great things on there. So, patreon.com/deanelray, get 201 episodes of the show for basically the price of a cup of coffee once a month. So, what are you doing? Come on, support the show. And one last thing, watch my comedy specials. 5836, the one that's shot live in a cave last year, that's on YouTube right now. And the brand new one, Tripping in Las Vegas, that is on YouTube. They're both free. And you can subscribe to my YouTube channel and enjoy all of my content. [ __ ] word content. So ridiculous. Hey man, I'm out making some content. Anyway, welcome everybody. Welcome to the show. [ __ ] stormed rain yesterday in uh Los Angeles and it was just a reset day. It rained all [ __ ] day. Wild. Have not seen rain in a long time. And it just poured rain on and off all day. And I just chilled on the couch and hung out with my beautiful dog, Gertrude, and did a little work around the house. I did the bonus episode and uh what else did I do? Not really much. Felt good. Felt good. Once in a while I like to do nothing and uh I highly recommend it. Some people do nothing forever, but uh don't do that. Definitely don't do nothing forever, but once in a while, if you're working like seven days a week like me, just [ __ ] do nothing and enjoy it. Now, if you've been listening to the show for the last 13 years, you know I love rock and roll, of course, and I've stayed in a lot of hotels. I've toured all over the US. I've toured all over the world. I've been to a lot of [ __ ] places. And one of my favorites is the great Sunset Marquee right here in Los Angeles off of Sunset Strip on Altaloma. That is uh about two blocks from the comedy store. And a few weeks ago, I had on the directors of the incredible documentary called If These Walls Could Rock and it's all about the Sunset Marquee, this dock. And I thought, man, I want to talk to the owner. And that happened a few days ago and I will tell you it is a great conversation with a great man. He owns the Sunset Marquee. His name is Mark Rosenthal. Not only that, but he's also been in the film business. He loves cars and watches. We had a lot to talk about. We uh had a fantastic meal and then we hung out at the marquee all day and then I stayed the night there. And I will tell you, if you are coming to Los Angeles ever, stay at this hotel. Skip all the other hotels, stay here. You can walk to the Comedy Store. You can walk to the Viper Room. Uh as long as that's open, you can walk to the Whiskey, the Rainbow, the Roxy. You can walk up to Joe's Pizza. It's a great great spot and it is pure rock and roll and uh I I just had a a kick-ass time. I would love to live there like Billy Bob Thornton did. If you haven't seen the film, it's got all kinds of great rockers telling killer stories about a Bruce Springsteen/Billy Bob Thornton and the list goes on and on. You can see it on if these walls could rock I think.com. I recommend you get it there and skip all the [ __ ] greedy streamers and just get it from those guys and support this incredible film. Thank you, Mark, for doing the show. And thank you to all of you Dale Razors who tune in every week and listen to this show. I can't believe we're on 13 years and we're going on our 14th year in April. We I always say we and it's just [ __ ] me. I booked the guests. I record the show. I edit the show. I post the show. It is [ __ ] work. But well worth it when you can sit down with cool people like Mark and really just have a fantastic conversation. Which, by the way, while I was at the hotel, you know how I love rock and roll photography. They've got the Morrison Hotel uh photo gallery store there in the hotel. I ran into my uh old buddy Ross Halen there and he said that he's going to eventually do the show because he has some stuff coming out that he wants to talk about and uh you know he's a little he's a little uh prickly but I love him. Ross Halen rock photographer and that'll be coming up. Also coming up, Michael Sweet will be returning to the show from Striper and a bunch of other very cool guests. But right now, let's get into this cool guest, the owner of the Sunset Marquee. This is Mark Rosenthal. Candles lit. All right, here we are. Another episode of Let me talk. We are coming from the Sunset Marquee today. And if you heard my episode a few weeks ago on the documentary If These Walls Could Rock, which is a uh brand new film out about this hotel, the Sunset Marquee, you understand how much this place means to me and my career as far as really kind of uh my comedy career started at the bar here, the whiskey bar, without starting comedy, but meeting a guy Jay Davis and eventually starting comedy 20 years later. And so the hotel is very magical to me. And today we are here with the owner. Introduce yourself my man. >> My dean Mark Rosenthal. >> Yes. And uh if you see the dock, you see Mark and how much he is part uh you know has taken over this hotel from his father and really has kind of saved it. It's an honor to have you on today, buddy. >> Well, thanks for having me. It's great to have you here. I wanted to have you on immediately when I saw the movie because I was like, "Oh, I've got to talk to that guy." cuz we're, you know, we're 6 years off in age, but you are full-blown an Angelino and also your father was heavily into the Hollywood scene and uh Sunset Strip. This hotel is literally blocks from the Comedy Store, The Whiskey, The Rainbow, and uh the Roxy >> Viper 2. >> Viper Room. Oh, yeah. So, a lot of people watched the dock and listened to my episode and were like, I never heard of that hotel, you know, and which is probably for the better because it kept it kind of mystique, you know. We had the chateau, then later we had uh you know, the uh the uh standard kind of got hot for years and then of course early days next door to the comedy store, the Riot House. >> The Riot House. But this is something totally different. >> Yeah. Well, this is a hotel and none of them have been in the same family at this point for 63 years. As we talk about in the movie, my dad built it because of a vision he had relating to the early days of bringing uh Playboy Enterprises and the clubs half a block away. And so, you know, this has been a property in a single family who's kind of overseen it. And we have people in the hotel that worked here for almost the entire 63 years. Well, that is one of the main things I love about this hotel and I love about the comedy store and I love about the whiskey and the rainbow familyowned still. Uh, at any time, and we'll get into the history of the place, but did any time somebody try to buy out like a like a a a you know, like a high type of people? >> More individuals have come along the way. It's never really been for sale. It's um among all the things I've been involved with and I've done a lot of different businesses. This is the only one that I really have a personal very strong connection to given the fact it was named for me. Even the Westwood Marquee, which we had from about the mid70s to the early 90s, which I did a JV with Starwood and then sold out my interest, still not even though I had the same last name uh to the hotel, still never the same kind of connection here. That's interesting because the comedy store had the Westwood comedy store also, which is really wild. Now, I don't even uh I've never been there because it was years and years ago, but it's wild that at that point there was a marquee there and a comedy store. Well, Westwood was a pretty vibrant place. It fell on harder times during the '9s and our involvement in that property started about 1979 and it had a very interesting arc but completely different from the Sunset Marquee. Back then we would used to say if you looked at our customers in ad agencies we'd have the account executives at the West Marquee and the creatives here at the Sunset Marquee. >> Right. Right. Yeah. Exactly. That's that's the vibe of that. Uh for sure. Here here's something that's really interesting to me. Um, as you look at Sunset and what's going on now, you know, it to me it almost feels like they're tearing everything out. There's not going to be anything to do, you know, like all the venues. Uh, thank God the whiskey and the rainbow and that stuff's not but you know that whole strip with the Viper room and then down there across the street from Guitar Center how they plow that whole block like what's there going going to be to do? >> Well, I think it'll ultimately depend if those larger projects end up having special places in them. It's going to be different and that's one of the challenges of development over times. We're guilty of it, too. When uh my father built what was the Playboy building, there were two clubs there, the Crescendo and Interlude, and he tore those down to build the Playboy Tower, which then put the club in them. So, it it's part of evolution of anything. We all have to grow, including cities, and and I hope not for the worst, but sometimes. >> Well, also, I do think that uh you and I, we're not like get off my lawn type of people, you know? We're you're in the biz, I'm in the biz. Um, and younger people enjoy different stuff. Also, uh, being oldtime 80s here and being a party hotel, people don't really party anymore like they used to. You know, even the bottle service has kind of gone away. And I think a lot of that has to do with legalization of weed. A lot of people just take edibles and chill. Um, younger people, they don't necessarily need to go out to clubs anymore. >> Yeah, I'm I was never a big clubber, although, you know, I I knew Ian Shreger and I was in Studio 54 in the early days. The vibe has definitely changed. You know, you and I are both of a similar generation. >> Um, you know, I go back to the 80s when I was in my 20s, and that was a very fun time. Not great for your health, but really fun. >> Yeah. And I haven't seen anything quite like that experience in the decades that have intervened since. >> Well, you are so right on that, man. Just sunset alone, just the nightly trying to drive up sunset from, you know, say the comedy store to the rainbow. It was just madness. Like thousands of kids outside. Thousands. Flyers everywhere, you know, outfits. It was so much to go hang at the whiskey to go to the Roxy and I saw amazing. I mean I saw Bruce Springsteen at the Roxy. >> You went to that show? >> I did. >> You went to that show >> and so that was a crazy time to be able to see someone of that magnitude in a place that I don't know 150 people. >> So let's talk about that a little bit because it's a epic epic famous bootleg. He plays the forum and then he decides to do an after show at the Roxy. Correct. I can't give you any details. I probably was too stoned at the time to remember, but I just remember seeing him there. >> That's crazy, dude. I mean, you know, the magnitude of that like cuz that's he's not up and coming. He's giant at that time. >> Yeah, it was post Born to Run. >> Yeah. How'd you get in? Your dad get tickets something? >> No, I think I you know, I grew up a couple miles from here in Beverly Hills. So, I always had connections. You know, you I grew up in the entertainment industry basically. So, I knew people that knew people. >> Yeah. Did you hang with the shores at all, Peter or Paulie or anybody? >> So, I didn't. My dad know Midsy quite well because they were both on the, you know, I I don't know the year they ultimately started, but I think it was around the same time this hotel in the early 60s. And I forget the husband's name, but my father Sam knew knew them well. >> Wow. And you were telling me a story at lunch that uh was incredible. You were going to the comedy store here and there, but you went the night prior came back after the fire. >> It was an amazing experience. >> So tell me about that. >> Somehow we heard that Richard Brier was coming back and you know at that point in time pretty much we thought we had lost him and such an incredible comedian and I walk in there and I remember Gallagher was one of the early shows but the one that really stuck out for me prior to Richard coming on board was Robin Williams, right? and to see I'd never seen him live before and I've never seen anyone riff as fluidly as he did off of any line that you gave him or anything you do. I literally spent the entire time doubled over and then to have Richard Prior come on and the kind of joy in the fact that he was still with us. >> Yeah. >> Right. And he was great. He, you know, he hadn't kind of returned to his prime yet, but it was, it was really a joy to be able to see that piece of history. >> Were you hanging out at the store? >> I can't say that I hung out there, but I would go every now and again. You know, I in kind of my >> um college years, I was in Northern California. So, we talked about you being from San Francisco. I was up at Berkeley >> and then I I worked was working pretty hard and then I was in law school. So, a lot of kind of 80s, I was either in school and studying and working hard. So, I wasn't out partying a great deal. I didn't even hang out at the whiskey bar at its heyday. >> Yeah, man. That's nuts. >> I know. >> Because that Why is that? Because you were out of town going to law school. >> I was either out of town or I was in law school and I wasn't involved in the company. I really came heavily involved back um when I returned from law school in '86. Um, so you know, it I wasn't really a party guy other than during a brief period in the 80s, but I kind of quickly said, "If I keep doing what I'm doing, I'm not going to make it into my 30s." >> Oh, yeah. I mean, the blow was the blow is radically how much there was cocaine. It you can't even really exaggerate it. And uh, you know, now with the fentanyl world and stuff, I I couldn't even imagine even dabbling. But back then it was just a and it also felt kind of free spirit of like we're just doing this so we could keep going. We don't want to miss anything, >> right? >> You don't want to miss life. >> Yeah. It's really quite a shame. Now you have to worry about is it going to kill me or I've got to test it. None. You we didn't have that issue. No. >> I mean it it you still weren't supposed to be doing it, but it was safe relatively. >> Right. Right. You went to Studio 54. >> Yeah. In in the early days. That's got to be insane, man. >> Well, as I said, the whole era was insane, and a lot of it had to do with the cocaine, but there was just this exuberance both in the economy and in the world and life and progress as we'd come out of the 70s and the Vietnam War had ended. It was a it was a really dynamic period of excess, but it still was fun. >> Right. So your father, your mom and dad divorce and uh your dad is part of the Playboy Club. Uh he he helps build that. >> So his story is really interesting and it's not it's more covered in the book that Craig and I wrote, but um he had met Hefner at a wedding here in Los Angeles and had heard that he wanted to build the club and an office and a hotel in >> he had the one in Chicago. He had the one in Chicago and he wanted to do something in LA. >> And so my dad called him one night um late and he answered the phone. It's Playway Enterprises. My dad's uh Hefner speaking and my dad said Raleigh Enterprises, Rosenthal speaking. And he said, "I hear you're looking to build this stuff." He says, "I have two things to tell you. You're looking the wrong location and you have the wrong partner." And Hefner said, "Well, I guess you're going to tell me the right location, the right partner, right?" and Hefner came out a week later and very quickly they hit it off and they started down this path to build both projects, the club, the office and a hotel. Actually, three projects. They could never finance the hotel. And the problem was in 1963, Playboy was viewed almost as pornography. >> Yeah. >> And the um Robert Kennedy was looking and it was there was people that went to jail for mailing girly magazines. Oh yeah, Flint, the whole thing, you know, later on. >> Later on, but even in the early days, I think there was a magazine called Aeros that the guy got in trouble for for mailing pornography. And so, um, my dad worked and worked and worked to try and get finance. No one would step up to the plate. He finally went to Chicago to have a meeting with a interesting individual who agreed to finance the hotel. My dad spent the day with Jimmy Hoffa. >> Whoa. And at the end of the day, Hoff says, "Kid, we're going to give you the money." But my dad said, "I got to talk to my partner." And they were basically going to bring up the money like a brown paper bag. >> Wow. >> And my dad says, and Hefner says to him, "We can't take money from Jimmy Hoff and the Teamsters, if we do, one night you're going to be in your office and you're going to open your bottom desk drawer and do you know who's going to pop out?" And my dad said, "No, who?" He says, "Bobby Kennedy." because he was the AG and he was after um Hafa and looking at the teamsters and the pole pornography. >> So they passed >> and my dad was able to finance the um tower where Hefner lived on the top on the 10th floor. It's where Playboy after After Dark was filmed and the club was on floors three through five. Our offices were on seven and eight and Playboy had the rest of the building. And so >> that's where Playboy After Dark was done. >> Yes, sir. >> Holy [ __ ] The top floor. You know how epic that stuff is, dude? >> So, we, you know, my dad was never, we were partners with Playboy. He spent a lot of time. He actually found the Playboy mansion for Hefner to buy and was involved in designing and building the grotto, the famous grotto. >> So, they had this very close relationship for quite a few years and we were partners on that building for several decades until they decided to move and sell they sold their interests to us. >> Which building is that? It's like the 8800 or whatever. 8560 Sunset Boulevard. It's directly on the corner of Altaloma. And >> is that where the steak place was recent last couple years on the bottom floor? >> No, the um it's has the whole equinox that's next to it now. There's no steak place. >> I know that. Okay. Yeah. >> Um he's on the 10th floor now. >> Oh, that's what I heard. For the ballers. >> Yes. >> Somebody told me that AP's in there for ballers. >> You have to try and get in. Well, my friend went and bought a watch recently cuz John Mayer brought him down there and you know, we were talking. I'm a watch freak. So are you. And uh I was like, "What? They're over there?" And he's Oh, yeah. But it's only for like the Super Ballers. Wow. >> Have you been there? >> I've never been. >> Yeah. Let's go. >> We got to set it up. >> I was there when it was the mo after Hefner moved out. It was the modeling agency for Playboy. Right. So, my favorite thing as a as a 22-year-old when our offices were still there was to ride up and down the elevators cuz half the time I was riding with some of the models and it was like quite a sight for a 22-year-old. >> Yeah. Oh, yeah. I'm thinking of the building across from uh kind of the whiskey that tall one. What is that one? >> Yeah. >> 8900 or >> so the 9th There's 9,000 building. >> Yeah. Because Ice Cube had a office up there. >> Yeah. Yeah. And then there's the one that has um Boa Steakhouse in it, which is right on the corner. >> Very corner. But that other guy, he opened a steak place uh famous chef. I forget his name right now. And it only lasted like 6 months. But those buildings are all interesting because in this day and age, I always wonder who's in those things anymore. You know, >> you still have a lot of entertainment um companies and you know, smaller business. They're not huge buildings. have relatively small floor plates, but it's still a really vibrant place to be up here on Sunset Boulevard. It's got drawbacks, but um you know, the Playboy though, the the 8560 building has done quite well um and that the mall with Equinox and has done well below it, >> right? So your dad obviously as I watch the film he builds the Sunset Marquee and it becomes this rock and roll mecca and it's wild to watch it because it's fullblown rock and roll and then it gets completely run down and that's kind of like where you come in because you and your father do you have a falling out? It it it more was a path of discovery with one another. So, um, as I share in the movie, I didn't really know what he did. >> Yeah. >> Um, >> and I didn't see him very much growing up. I saw him much more after my parents were divorced. I at least saw him on the weekends on Sundays. When I got ready to go to college, I was like, well, I don't know what I really want to do. I I had aspirations to be a neurosurgeon, believe it or not. And then I looked and I said, "Holy crap, the idea of 12 more years of school and residency after college. I don't see myself doing that." So, um, my dad introduced me to a dean at the UCLA business school and he said, "Well, you know, you're into Berkeley. It's got an undergraduate business program. You should think about that." So, um, I went there in 78 and I got into their undergraduate business program. And I found it really interesting. So, I came back into the company in ' 82. um talked about my title as corporate liaison and it was as much as anything is to try and discover what the hell my father did >> right >> and um it was during that period of time that because of his very difficult upbringing you know he was never satisfied with anything and there was a whole process of like I'm looking to you for approval in two places one is my father and one is my boss so you have to recognize when you can't just look at the next problem because there's always another problem around the corner. And so there was that process of trying to find common ground where and my sister went through the same thing. She worked in the company for years and she ultimately left and became an appellet uh chief research attorney for an appelllet justice and is extremely smart. Um probably contributed to a significant degree in the saving of her company during the most difficult times as well. Um but it didn't work for her. So my dad and I were able to find a relationship that both honored the family aspect of it but recognizing that sometimes in business there's a harder edge to it and sometimes you have to be told you know that was really stupid you know don't do that again so it's really that process and I think many kids and even with with dads who are you know hard edge who love them sometimes they can't express it but they they want to see them succeed and we all struggle with All right. Do I have to how much of a hard ass do I be? How much support do I care? All those things. And it was really that process that he and I went through during this difficult period of time. >> When the hotel gets completely run down, I mean, as you're watching the documentary, it's wild because it's this full-on thing. All these rock stars are staying here. You know, Bruce, who is one of our favorites, we were talking at lunch. You know, you have these guys staying here and then it kind of becomes quote unquote a dump almost. You know, it's like almost like uh what was the one with the Tropicana? Not that bad. That hotel with the Tropicana diner. >> Yeah, I I remember. >> Anyway, you know, it's it's it's run down and then this whiskey bar comes in. Do you believe besides you does it save the hotel? So, um, what it did was raise the profile again, but the challenge with it, and Randy was an amazing person to have partner with for for 12 years, but it was a super busy bar. It didn't necessarily translate into hotel rooms. And then when I tried wanted to build the addition going from the '9s into the early 2000s, we were getting a lot of push back from our neighbors because the place was crazy at 2 in the morning and we live in a residential, the hotel is in a residential neighborhood. So, um, yes, it helped from a profile, but it probably didn't help the actress. I mean, a hotel, you really want to sell rooms, right? That's your primary thing. Make you make the best money renting someone a room. >> So, um, but that was also the same process of the reinvention because prior to that time, it had been an apartment hotel in its earliest days. There was no room service, there was no restaurant, there was no bar. So in the early 80s when I came in the company I said into the into the company I said I think this hotel has to evolve from a three-star to a four-star. It needs full services if we're going to compete with the other things that are going on in the city. And that was an era of a lot of change happening in LA. So I put in the the original restaurant was called Notes and as a matter of fact is where I met my wife. >> Wow. >> In 1995. >> Well, she just happened to be there. She was very dear friends with my dad's assistant. And my dad's assistant would have never put us together. She thought I was just a corporate tool. >> And my I walked into the hotel, my wife saw me and thought, "Well, that's a nice looking guy." And I tell you, she booked she owns a company that does band travel. And really, as much as she appreciates the music industry, she goes, "I wouldn't want to date one of those guys." So, she was skeptical of our clientele, >> of course. And then I walk in in a suit and she goes, "Well, I wonder why he's here." >> Yeah. >> And that was on in uh December 7th, Pearl Harbor Day, 1995. That was when I met her. >> Wow. So, is the was the original restaurant where we ate today? >> No, the original restaurant was where the Morrison Hotel Gallery is in the front of the >> Oh, it's right there. Real small, huh? >> It was small. There was also dining in the back side of the pool because that pathway that you walk through to get into the garden out that was building and so there was a little outdoor dining that was tucked in there. So we had food in both places. >> The whiskey bar were you guys getting money uh like a percentage of his sales? >> Yeah, I don't remember the exact deal. Randy talked about it just uh being a rent structure, but I think it was a participation based on sales if my memory serves me correctly. He definitely ran it, right? And it was it was his his gig, but we participated on if he did better, we did better. >> I don't think anybody understands the level of that whiskey bar, you know. It it's it's about the size of a postage stamp. >> Yeah. 700 ft. >> But you're in there and you if you look to the corner, you'd be like, "Is that [ __ ] Bono?" And it'd be Bono in there, you know? Like these guys were in there like every rockar was in there. and all entertainers and actors and writers. I don't know what magic juice Randy had going, but it was something else. >> Not only that, but not one night a week. >> Every night. >> Every night awake. >> It was It made no sense. >> Yeah. >> You know, I met Mickey Ror there. It was like one of my top favorites of all time. I'm like, what is going on here? You know, quite the hang. you you just walked me on the grounds and it was blowing my mind. I talk about the podcast when I had the directors on how this Saudi prince uh whatever said I'm staying in the uh you know the the bungalow next door come over and I go and it's like a twostory house. You just walked me through the grounds just now of the future of this hotel and it was so mindboggling. I can't even believe it because I'm on sunset every night of my life at the comedy store. I drive by, I go down Losi, I'm everywhere. You can't even tell what's going on. It is so hidden, but man, this is like deluxe. So, like everything, it has to continue and evolve. And it's a longer story, but quite literally um I sold all of the other businesses we were involved in so that I could have the capital to focus on reinventing this hotel. You know, I don't know when I'm going to retire, but I'm going to be 67 in 4 months, >> right? And this is really kind of my last harra with and I really for me it's a complete evolution of the hotel that started as two star three star among and it has evolved over the years but I don't think there's anything quite like other than maybe the Bair Hotel which is not half a block from Sunset where there's this quintessential Los Angeles garden environment and it really is a return to the image of the garden of Allah that >> right >> by the way was torn down by the same man who lent the money to build this hotel. >> Wow. >> Guy named Bart Lighten. Lightton Savings and Loan. >> Wow. Now, back when Billy Bob was living here, people can live here. Who lived here the longest, Billy Bob? >> I think Billy Bob lived here longer than anyone else. We did have a a woman who rented the presidential um for close to three years. >> Wow. And what back then would that cost like a month? What would be your rent? Um, you know, there's deals that are obviously cut for um someone who's renting a long-term basis, and you don't pay the occupancy tax on it. I have no idea what Billy Bob's was was paying. Um, the presidential at the time that this woman was she was paying like 90 grand a month. >> Whoa. Man, that had to be a baller. >> I can't tell you exactly what she did and I won't mention her name, but um she was a great customer for quite a few years. So, we just walked the whole ground. So, you have the original hotel and those are like your classic hotel. It's three stories. It has the pool in the middle and that's basically this the thing your dad built. And then next door were the Barrymore estates or whatever. And those were just separate. When he builds the hotel, does he eventually buy that? That whole comes up for sale somehow. >> Yes, he eventually those um became available during the 70s, >> right? and um he was able to buy they were basically single family residences. They may have already been cut in duplexes and I think the very top ones might have already been cut into you know threebedroom three apartments um and then he basically added them to the hotel and that's that story of me digging the trenches. I laid the saw and I dig dug the trenches to put the sprinklers in. >> Yeah. Yeah. You were like the like you were like uh the gardener guy like >> I did whatever he asked me to do. Now, once those become available, does it just move right onto the menu of the hotels? Like you come in and you go, "Hey, I want to check in. What do you got?" And then you said, "Oh, we also have these." >> You know, there'll be a different kind of marketing presentation. They've always they've been available for 50 years, right? >> Wow. >> Not at the level to what I'm doing with they were hundred-y old buildings. >> Yeah. Um, but still special spaces 12 to 1,600 square foot two-bedroom deluxe accommodations. So, you know, they'll be marketed in a little bit of a unique way, but they're not, you know, the the room that, for example, you're staying in that those garden villas are a beautiful experience as well. You walk and that's what we built in 2008. So, it's really an extension of that for what is 12 keys. That's what you call a room you rent in the hotel business, a key. >> Yeah. um on the front side of Aloma. And it it really was to take that and create the highest level accommodations we we could with it. So, you know, how are we going to market it? I'm not sure yet, but we're working on it. >> We also went down to the recording studio. Now, I had not been down there in 20 years. Um something like that when I first moved here. That's how I find this place. And we went down there today and it is [ __ ] booming. And what's amazing about that is recording studios are still around right now, which is great because there was this big fad of, oh well, the gear's so good now we record at home. But really, I see no success other than if you're somebody like a a Beck or someone where you're just your own guy and you're home and making sounds. Um, it's all about getting into the studio with your guys and hanging. And we went down there and it was like Joe Bonamasa was here today who's a friend of mine, but there's other people in there recording and stuff and it had a vibe right now. >> You know, I I think that you come back to Dave Gro's comment from the movie, the idea of community and that we are so much better together than apart. as creative and smart for me to be able to bounce ideas off from you, to me be able to have a different perspective as a result of that conversation. So, I think there will always be a place for that. And Jed Liieber did just a beautiful job of taking what functionally was laundry rooms and turning it into worldass studios. >> That blows my mind. It's like the laundry and then where do you move the laundry room? Oh, we we moved to a different part of the garage. And that that came because he and Jeff Beck were playing too loudly in the hotel and Rod, the GM here, said, "I got to find a different place for you to play." And it was soundproof down there. So, >> it's it's magic down there, man. Right now, it's >> What's crazy? It's in the garage. >> Oh, I couldn't believe it, man. You know, like what to me what was crazy was you're downstairs in the in the studio and you're tracking vocals and then you go up and you're in this lobby and it's a fullblown party going on and and I mean it was just insane, you know. >> Yeah. Well, that's you're back to the fun days of the whiskey bar. Yeah. >> It's not quite like that these days. >> No, now it's the 12,200 bar. You guys own it? >> Yeah. >> And is it open every night? >> It's open I believe it's open every night. Right. They may have be closed on Mondays. I'm not sure. >> Let's talk a little bit about Morrison Hotel. Um, I've had most of those photographers uh that are represented in there before they passed away on my show over the last 13 years. Rock photography is an absolute addiction of mine. And I have a thing now where there's no posters in my house. It has to be classic photography. Whether it be, you know, Mick Rock or Jim Marshall or Baron Walman or any of these uh hundred >> Rosalin >> Ross Halen who stays here exclusively. >> I think he's in the hotel now. >> Yeah. Is he? >> Yeah. So, it's um really amazing to uh see the hotel with these classic photos around the hotel. So, how does this work? And do you pick the location of the photos? cuz now when you're walking around the hotel, there's these beautiful photos. There's uh Joe Bonamasa has guitars here and everything. How does that uh collab come about? >> Coming back to that sense of community. So that really was driven by Timothy White. >> I don't know if you've met Timothy. Timothy's less known as a rock and roll photographer, although he's done a lot than as a Hollywood photographer and has an amazing eye. And Timothy was basically running the Morrison Hotel Galleries, which was a collaboration of several different photographers, right? >> They sold it maybe two or three years ago now to a group out of New York and we still work with them. >> Yeah. They got the one in Soho. >> The one in Soho and their one in Hawaii burned down. That was the one in uh Maui, right? In the in the fires. And that was at uh I forget his name, but he owns he owns a building in Hawaii. Famous. I hate when the senior moments happen. >> Oh yeah. >> Uh >> yeah, but it's proof that you were around in the 80s. >> Mick Fleetwood that Nick Fleetwood's place in in Maui which Yeah. >> So in any event, Timothy's been an amazing partner and for the longest time they would curate the hotel the photographs around the hotel. >> Yeah. >> Um when Timothy and the rest of them decided they were going to sell it, we cut a deal. to buy all the artwork that we had already up on the walls cuz we didn't really want to change it. And we still work very collaboratively together um to do events and openings. There's been some >> Oh, I've been to Yeah. >> Oh my god. I was one I was at I think it was about a year ago. Um and you know they they'll have like a cl they'll cover somebody like such and such photographer and it'll be a full night and it's red carpet and it's really really cool. Also I was here at a Grammy party last year that was full tilt. They had bands playing at the pool, right? >> And that was amazing, you know. Um so that's kind of cool stuff going on. But those photos are incredible. When you check in, there's a classic G&R photo there and the Doors um motel one, you know. >> Well, hence the name of the Morrison Hotel Gallery. But um yeah, they've been a they've been an amazing partner for for decades. And we've been so blessed through relationships with Timothy and the team, with Randy and with Jed, um and with our staff, you know, the people that have been here for decades and decades. So that the what's very unique about this hotel is truly the sense of family. It's kind of extended, a little bit dysfunctional, but nonetheless, we feel like we're fighting on the same team. >> Oh yeah. Yeah. Let's talk about the restaurant a little bit. Um you built it out there. It's beautiful and it's between the old hotel and kind of the newer uh garden ones in the back. What was the um you know did you bring in a big chef or how did that happen? So that um was opened under a a chef out of the Boston and Washington area by the name of Michael Schlow and Michael was also an amazing partner for us during co obviously we're not and he was on a advisory basis so we had to cut our relationship with Michael because we weren't selling any meals >> right >> um and we kept it under our own and the chef is came from Michael's and worked for Michael Luis Morales Right. >> So, we've run it ourselves since um kind of the return from CO, but Michael was the one who helped really launch it and then um we updated that bar and things during CO and we kind of remodeled and redecorated. Um so, it's been an it's been an interesting journey, but the that room was originally not going to be the restaurant. It was just going to be a meeting room. >> And I looked at it on the plans before we started building. I said, "We have to bring people to the middle of this garden. I can't leave the dining even though the pool is a nice place. I said this is in the where do you get to do this in Los Angeles? Yeah. >> And so we went through a process and the city was very helpful with that cuz we had to build a kitchen back there and those that wasn't on the original plans. We ultimately went through the process and turned that into cavatina as the kind of centerpiece of the hotel and you walk through it and you're in the middle of this garden half a block off Sunset Boulevard. >> Well, the vibe is unbelievable. I've had multiple lunches there over the last five years, meetings and stuff. I mean, you could literally be a superstar, rockstar, and sit right there and no one would bother you because it's not there's no street access or there's no, you know, nobody's going to walk by and go, "Whoa, it's Slash." You know what I mean? >> Well, that's one of the beauties of the hotel is and with a restaurant now being tucked in the center of it, pretty much the only reason you come it is if you booked a reservation there. >> Right. Right. Exactly. And is that available for room service? >> So, there is room service that is out of the same kitchen. There's a different menu, but they managed to take care of both the restaurant and the room service in a relatively small kitchen. >> Have you been to the new standard yet? They're getting ready to open, right? >> Public hotel. >> Yeah. Have you seen it yet? >> So, um I haven't been through it yet. It's not open yet. It's supposed to open in either weeks or months, right? I know some of the people that are working on it and um you know, as I said, I know Ian a little bit. It I'm sure it'll be great. He's a visionary in the hotel business. A little different vision than what I have, but um >> yeah, >> but incredible nonetheless. >> What about the guy that owns the chateau? Did he buy that for 4 million back in the 80s? >> I would have no idea of that. >> That's nuts. That's what I heard. >> Yeah. Well, you know, I'll give you a statistic for this hotel. And this is a >> something I can refer to. So, this hotel in 1963. >> Yeah. >> Which didn't have the villas and anything else, but it still had 102 rooms, right? >> That were furnished that was on the land. In 1963, it cost $1,200,000 to build this hotel. >> Whoa. Back then. >> Back then. I'm going to spend that much redecorating one villa. So that gives you a sense of kind of the appreciation, the devaluation of the dollar. It's but it's a remarkable perspective. I grew up in Beverly Hills in the 700 block. Beautiful neighborhood. The house in 1964 when my dad bought it was $162,500. The mortgage was $500 or $600 a month. Now, that was still a lot of money in 1963, but relatively you could be a normal human being and live in that house. You didn't have to be >> a multi-gazillionaire. >> Yeah. Yeah. Well, this town is gazillionaire now. You have to It's just crazy between this and New York. Every week I'm like, well, how much I I have to work 24/7 to just stay uh slightly afloat, you know? It's uh it is nuts. Let me ask you this. Uh you grew up in Beverly Hills. You're 66. Were you around the Menendas? Uh, do you remember that? >> So, of course, I remember it. And they they're a little bit younger than I am. And they but they lived >> three blocks away. >> Wow. >> And I had very dear friends that were across the street neighbors. So, I never knew them. >> Right. That's nuts. >> But I'm sure they went to my same elementary school and the high school. >> Yeah. And you're also alive uh during the Manson stuff. >> Of course. Yeah. >> That's crazy. >> That was a crazy era, too. I mean, I was just watching the Manson tapes, you know, and I was doing a joke where I was saying, "How many times are they going to repackage Manson?" It's like an, you know, it's like a a Tom Petty box set, you know, like remastered cuz, you know, they keep telling the same, you think they're telling the same story, but this time I watch it, I'm like, "Whoa, I had no idea some of this stuff." >> Well, it was a an amazing cult. >> Yeah. And um you know you you want to have an interesting conversation. Tyler, our director, has a series. Was was I in a cult? Fascinating of of how people lose themselves to cults throughout history. >> It blows my mind every time cuz I was around during the Jim Jones, of course, >> San Francisco. Yeah. Guy on a grape. All that, you know, it's like >> all of that stuff's really wild, you know? And I think it has a lot to do with just kind of 60s acid and just kind of insanity, you know. >> I I think it comes well I think goes way longer than that. The idea of looking for guidance >> right >> through our human existence and is there some that can give me the answers and make it easy because no matter what you do, life is hard, right? We all have different challenges. And someone says to no, I can help you find paradise. And totally there's a part of us that wants to believe that. >> Oh yeah. So you sold all the businesses and you're putting it all. This is your last run. Your dad's still alive. >> He's 95. >> And what else do you guys have? A a winery. >> So unfortunately um we still have a vineyard property in Malibu, right? >> Um that was severely impacted in the Woolseie fire in 2018. And then we had a beautiful tasty room on PCH of the family name and it burned up totally in the Palisades farm. >> God. >> So um there isn't much there isn't much left at you know we still have different real estate holdings but I have been very heavily involved in the film business. We built I built personally probably more soundstages and studios around the world than any other human being. >> Really like which ones? >> So our founding was Raleigh Studios in Hollywood. We did Raleigh Studios Manhattan Beach. I built one in Chinda, China. We built one which was in Budapest. I was involved in the Wanda Studios group in sorry there was Wooi and then Chinda, China. We were in Atlanta where The Walking Dead was filmed, right? >> We were in Baton Rouge. Um so we had this a rather large footprint. We also had the second largest lighting grip company which called Hollywood Rentals. So all those things I've since sold off. What do you think the future is of the film business in town with this giant merger going back and forth? Because it does have a lot to do with your hotel as far as uh actors coming to town, stand somewhere, also musicians and everything. Um I mean it's scary, you know. >> Look, I've been in tangentially involved for the film business for almost as long as I've been involved in hospitality and it's the scariest I've time I've ever seen. And you know, I have friends who run production companies and the cost for them to shoot outside of California is a fraction of what it is to film here. That's difficult. If you go back to 2000, 2005, I funded a nonprofit to try and tell our state legislators and the governors, I knew Gay Davis very well. I was up in Schwarzenegger's office, this is what's happening around the globe. You need to do something to be competitive. But the mindset was we don't want to provide corporate charity. And I was trying to convince him, look, this isn't about corporate charity. This is about being competitive with really good paying jobs. And ultimately, it took about three years for the first incentives to be put in place, but they weren't competitive with what was around the globe. And so California lost a lot of that edge and you had a resurgence of it during kind of what I call the streaming wars where this huge growth in the teens of demand from Netflix and Hulu and Disney Plus and but that was a false demand. Literally, I'm still involved in the platform, although I'm not I'm a minority owner, and I've never seen I've never seen the kind of vacancy that exists currently. >> Well, also vacancies. Here's an interesting thing. I um you know, I usually take back streets to the comedy store or whatever, and I came up Sunset. For some reason, the Uber drove me up there. Man, the vacancies on Sunset is alarming, you know. uh especially from Guitar Center all the way to the Rainbow. It's really wild to see everything gone. And to me, that was a weird thing of like greed of the landlords just they have somebody for 30 years, then the lease is up and they're like, "Okay, your lease is 10 times the amount now, but there's not 10 times the money coming in." >> No. And look, there's there's a combination of of issues. The city has not been particularly hospitable towards business. >> Yeah. >> The um running a restaurant is a really hard business. Like you don't get rich running a restaurant. >> If you work in it and you work your ass off, maybe you make a little bit of of money, but you can pay your stat. And when West Hollywood increased the minimum wage and hospitality like $22 and they're looking at $30, it's hard to make those things pencil. And at the end of the day, people have to be able to make some money in their business because they're risking their capital. They're taking their time. You know, you run your own your business. You get to keep what's left and that's it. Yeah. >> And if there's nothing left, you're not eating. >> So, it's been a combination of those things. And unfortunately, I think it's also true on the landlord side where we have, you know, a broader institution institutionalization of ownership and there's less a sense of kind of the win-win. For me, I've always thought my tenants, my customers, my clients have to be successful. They have to have a positive experience because I want them to be stay. I don't want them to move. I don't want to look their vacant. So, if you raise your rents 10 10fold, you make their life impossible and then you're sitting on a vacant space. >> You know, that little square in there where Pikito Moss was, the weird liquor stores, there's like five things. They were there for 30 years >> and now they're gone. >> All of them are gone. And then the daughter's butcher went in there. They're already gone. Uh Dan Deutsch is gone. It's It's wild to see even that the watch time. They built this big thing, >> huge thing. >> Huge thing gone. Now it's the Kardashians or whatever. But >> it it I seen it in San Francisco with the do you know? It was like these people were there for 20, 30 years, like a motorcycle shop, a guitar repair shop, and and just great. And all a sudden they're just gone. And then every six months it's something new. And then they got to paint it and they, you know, at the end of the day, just keep the people you had. >> Certainly my view, you know, >> we as human beings are capable of some great things and we have some aspects that aren't so good. Greed being one of them. >> Yeah. Yeah. You're a you're a car guy. We talk cars and watches. What's your dream watch? >> I I probably So I had one paddock ellipse. a golden ellipse that I got for a college graduation present. My son has that now. It's his favorite watch. It was always a little too small for me. Um I had an uncle that had a Nautilus and I loved that watch. He passed away. He gifted to his son as he should. Um maybe an Aquinaut. >> Yeah, it's a good one. Time only or the travel time? No, I like the travel time, but they're so crazy expensive, you know, and the ones where you have to pay, you either have to >> um have someone at the paddic store who loves you because you've bought a lot of stuff you don't want, right? >> Um or pay a super premium and I just don't roll that way. Yeah. >> So, that that's on my list. Otherwise, I have kind of most of things that I'd be interested. I probably my prize one is a 1974 Odmar Royal Oak that my dad gave me. >> Whoa. Um, and I think I just had it was probably five times the service than what he paid for it. It was under I think it was $2,000 and said it was a huge amount of money. But today you know that covers a Timex. >> Yeah. Yeah. Right. I know, right? And then how about dream car? >> So I don't think you know I have my dream car when I bought it was my 2014 Turbo S Cabriolet. >> Yeah. >> And 90,000 miles on it. >> 997. 997, >> right? >> And I don't and I had a 996 before that. I don't think I'll ever sell that car. I might give it to my son, but um that still is a magic car for me. I can't get in it and not put a smile on my face. >> Yeah. >> So um I I think I'm I think I'm set on the kind of the car things cuz most stuff now with the amount of technology in it um doesn't doesn't make me happy. >> And it spies on you. >> [ __ ] you know, it knows where you go. It knows what you like. It starts [ __ ] putting [ __ ] on your phone. >> And then they were selling it to the insurance companies. >> Yeah. And then they're going, "He was speeding." >> Yeah. No, it's not good. >> We're lucky we grew up when we did because it's over. >> You know what? I I I hope not. We look at cycles and when I read history, and I read a lot of history, you know, humanity has had some really terrible times. Like, you wouldn't want to be a surf when it was kings and royalty and surfs, right? And so the advancement that we've seen post 1900 in terms of equality, in terms of growth, magic that happened after the founding of the United States was like, "Oh yeah, this whole thing called a constitution, a bill of rights and individual rights, never existed for thousands and thousands of years. You were either a surf or you were royalty and nothing in between." So I think that you and I grew up in a magic time when there was this better sense of freedom. But I'd like to be an optimist and like to see that no matter how we go off one direction that there's kind of a return to center and a return to values that at least I think of it and a connection and in human interaction with one another. >> How how often are you at the hotel every day? >> Um no I'm not here every day but I'm here quite often given the renovation program that's going on. Um you know that's always an intense program. There's always challenges with it and then there have been for us on this go around. Um, but we have an amazing team here. So I, you know, my offices are at Raleigh Studios. >> Oh, really? And you guys still have that one? >> We still have a piece of it. >> Yeah. Yeah. I I I've been to Raleigh many times. >> It was famous. I mean, in the old days it was called That's actually the oldest continuing operating studio in Hollywood. Really? Founded in 1914, >> right? Um, and Famous Players, Fiction Studios, United Artists started there. really really remarkable history as a as a small studio and we were best known in the early days for television commercials. So they were all tons and tons of shop and then in intervening years we did a lot more television. So ABC was a good customer and um it's been it's been a good run. >> Is that uh lot at the grove closing? >> CBS that's that's a Hackman project and that is CBS Television Center Studios. Um, so the answer is it's under distress after my friend paid a lot of money for it and I'm not sure what will happen with it. People are looking at it. >> So, >> man, I was there about 10 years ago. They filmed soaps in there, you know. >> Yeah, >> it is the most ancient weird vibe when you go in there cuz it's these old soap sets that have been the same sets for 60 years, 50 years. >> And late night shows were there. my late night with Craig Ferguson. My favorite show, you know, for years was filmed there. It's an amazing place. It was, you know, primarily a broadcast facility. >> Yeah, man. What a wild, wild biz studios, you know, and we have the hugest ones here. I mean, I did Conan. I remember going on the lot to do Conan and there was just thousands of people everywhere, shows being filmed. >> It's nuts. it. Well, it certainly was, but I'm I'm not I I hope, but I'm not sure we'll see those days again. >> Yeah. Well, listen, uh, thank you for having me. Great lunch, and I love this place. And you you tour you took me on a tour of all the stuff being built. I hope one day, this is what I want to do, is put on a comedy show in the back back there where we have the new places being built because you said you got a stage going in. I think it'll be one of the coolest. It would be amazing to shoot a special back there. >> We'll make it happen. >> Yeah, man. It will happen. I'll just bring down three or four of the biggest and we'll just rock that area back there. >> Well, there's nothing more important than making people laugh. >> Oh, man. Right now, especially right. >> Yeah. >> Now, give everybody uh the website. Okay. The the film is called If These Walls Could Rock. You can watch it on Amazon and some other >> and Apple. >> Apple. >> And you can get the special content on the website. It's if these walls could rock.com. >> Super easy. >> Yeah. >> And um >> and it's got Slash and and Springsteen and >> Cheryl Crow. >> Cheryl Crow. Billy Bob Thornton. >> Chris Robinson. >> Chris Robinson. My boy. And >> Rucker. >> Yeah. >> I mean it's an amazing crew. And Billy Bob is basically the host as the mayor of the hotel. He's been such a remarkable both friend and resident here and he was super kind to devote the time manager Jeffrey did and and I have to take off my hat to Craig and Tyler and all the people in the team from Bungalow Media Carolyn the editor. Imagine this. We have 125 hours of film and you have to find the story in it. Caroline Kesler in New York who did that and she helped discover it and the amount of love that I saw poured into creating that story between it blew my mind away. >> It's great. It's a great uh film and it's a it's a great piece of Los Angeles California history and rock and roll history. What before we get out here was Billy Bob here was it after his sling blade success? Is that when he comes? >> Yes, it was after his Slingblade success. And he tells that joke about his encounter on the steps. And I think that's cuz he cuz I I don't know if he won it for Sling Blade and then but he went he says, "Oh, I I was nominated for some award." Yeah. Academy Award. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I remember watching Slingblade and then seeing him on like uh Jay Leno or one of the late night shows and I was like, "Fuck, that's the guy." I couldn't believe it. It was like when you saw uh you know Gilbert Grape, you know, you actually think that Leo I mean you know by the time you watch Leo talking you're like whoa man. I mean I saw him in other films but it was so real and Billy Bob was just a totally different dude. >> Yeah he's an he's an amazing human being and he's got some he's been in Los Angeles for a long time. One of my favorite stories he told me was um in his apartment building he was next to Warren Zevon. I was a huge Warren Zeon fan. >> And they were at the mailbox together and got to know one another. >> As you know, Billy Bob considers himself more of a musician than even an actor. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a classic. It's like uh Russell Crowe, you know. >> Yeah. >> One time I was talking to Russell Crow. was backstage at a gig we did and he I got a band, you know, and we run circles around this band and I was like, "Come on, man. This band is killing right here." All right. >> Thanks for having me. >> All right. Love you, man. Thank you. All right, everybody. It is the Sunset Marquee. You can stay here. I highly recommend you do when you come to LA because it's a piece of history and you can walk up to the comedy store, come see me or or anybody up there or go to the Rainbow or anywhere on the strip right there. Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Let There Be Talk.