OBIT: Raymond Sarlot, Developer who Restored Chateau Marmont

The real estate developer who restored the Chateau Marmont hotel in West Hollywood after he and a partner paid $1 million for the landmark Sunset Strip property in 1975 has died.

Raymond Sarlot died April 27 at his home in Los Angeles after a long illness, his wife Sally Rae Sarlot told the Los Angeles Times. He was 89.

Sarlot moved into the Chateau Marmont and oversaw its restoration over several years after he purchased it with business partner Karl Kantarjian, according to The Times.

The hotel has been a haven for such notable Hollywood figures as Greta Garbo, Billy Wilder, Marilyn Monroe, Katherine Hepburn, Tony Randall, Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate since it was built in 1927.

One of its bungalows was the scene of comic actor John Belushi's death from a drug overdose in 1982.

The Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission declared the property a historical landmark in 1976.

Sarlot, a Chicago native who was also instrumental in launching the Los Angeles Marathon, sold the hotel in 1986.

--City News Service