In the early 1980’s, I lived in an amazing apartment building in Hollywood. These days it is a private hotel, but back then it was called the Sunset Tower. It’s an elegant art deco building which was built in the 1920’s. For over eighty years, the graceful building has kept watch over Sunset Boulevard as a reminder of the grand old days of Hollywood. Famous actors and musicians have always lived at Sunset Tower, and there are many legendary stories about many members of the long cast-list of residents. My favorite story is one which was told to me by Lloyd Pantages, a legend himself, who had lived in the building for over fifty years.

One night in the 1950’s, Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe were having a tryst in the penthouse. At about midnight, a lot of loud and violent-sounding noise started coming from the penthouse. It could be heard all over the building. Yelling, screaming, pots and pans being thrown, lamps being broken, furniture being overturned - lots of noise. Lloyd decided to go up to the penthouse, knock on the door, and ask Gable and Monroe to quite down. Gable answered the door wearing a bathrobe and cowboy boots while Monroe stood beside him wrapped loosely in a towel. When Lloyd asked if they could tone things down a bit, Monroe laughed and Gable said, “Hell, this is just the foreplay. If you think that’s noisy, just wait until we start fucking.”

Lloyd told me hundreds of stories. I loved them because they were so entertaining, but for the longest time I never thought any of the stories were true. Just great stories. Well, one day I was chatting with the guy who had the apartment next to mine - the actor Stacey Keach. I asked Stacey if there was any truth to all of Lloyd’s tall tales. Stacey said that not only were the stories true, but most of them were actually so outrageous that Lloyd only shared the tamed-down version. Lord knows what was really going on up in the penthouse that night.

- Joel Timothy