If you can’t take the scene (amid important Hollywood types and hangers-on lounging in heavy chairs, sipping wine and making demands), get out of The Chateau Marmont (assuming you can get a very sought-after reservation in the first place). Constant updates are not the thing at this elite hilltop retreat (although there are iPod docking stations and cashmere throws), where every celebrity you could conceive of—plus creative types and socialites—lingers around the dimly lit lounge’s cozy couches and dark wooden décor. Outside, the pretty garden dining area is like another world: light, airy and peppered with flowers. Just above one of Hollywood’s buzziest boulevards (a two-minute downhill walk), the hotel draws in crowds to the popular Bar Marmont restaurant and lounge. The restaurant’s food wasn’t anything special until the arrival in early 2008 of chef Carolynn Spence, formerly of New York’s West Village hot spot, The Spotted Pig. Now diners come out to devour haute snacks like Boozy Bacon Prunes and pickled market vegetables and entrées such as roasted halibut. But because of the crowds, privacy and intimate conversation are at a premium here. Modeled after a royal estate in France’s Loire Valley, the hotel looks as if it could be the setting for a British farce or starlet-centered murder mystery. In fact, Bungalow No. 3 was the site of John Belushi’s death.

Chateau Marmont Hotel and Bungalows Amenities:

• 63 rooms. Wireless Internet access. Restaurant, bar. Pool. Fitness center.