By: Dr. Laura Wihelm
West Hollywood, California (The Hollywood Times) 11/20/2019
West Hollywood’s Chateau Marmont has hosted many wealthy visitors from all over the country in its time. Perhaps it was past time to honor the rest of America as Larry Niehues has endeavored to do in his new book of photographs, NOTHING HAS CHANGED: PORTRAITS OF THE US. Copies of this captivating book were signed and sold at an event held at Chateau Marmont on the evening of Tuesday, November 19th, 2019.
Larry Niehues, who is of French and Dutch descent, decided to move to the United States in 2010 and visit every single state in his quest to capture the “real America” on film. He toured with a music band to bring his artful eye to classic American landscapes the way we remember them from the past century. His compositions beg comparison with fellow photographer Robert Frank and painter Edward Hopper, conveying an intensely personal vision of American life.
This collection contains both black and white and color photographs and was created by Belgian publisher Lannoo in the space of six months. The preface was written by Dan Auerbach, singer and guitarist for The Black Keys.
Niehues’ “love letter to America” will be available to order on Amazon on December 9th, 2019. Priced at around $60, NOTHING HAS CHANGED would make a fine holiday gift for American culture vultures anywhere in the world!
About Chateau Marmont
The Chateau Marmont is a luxury hotel located at 8221 Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, California. The hotel is well known throughout the world for its 63 lavish rooms, suites, cottages, and bungalows complete with modern conveniences.
The Chateau Marmont is synonymous with comfort and class. Its grandeur is offset by a welcoming Old World ambience where one can experience the gracious pace of bygone times.
Glamour and scandal have always gone hand in hand at the Chateau Marmont. Celebrity sightings can occur at any time!
The hotel was designed by architects Arnold A. Weitzman and William Douglas Lee and completed in 1929. Its towering design was modeled upon that of the Château d’Amboise, a royal retreat in France’s Loire Valley. In 1976 the Chateau was named a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument.
“This great castle on the hill is the set of a film waiting for someone to call action – this is the place where things happen. Checking in is like turning up in the middle of an ongoing party at a European country estate – there is always someone you know staying here. Mindful of its history – but always in the moment – it is contemporary as tomorrow morning – there is great comfort here. Sit in a wicker chair on the veranda writing post-cards imagining you are in an exotic outpost-far far away.
And when the dusk of evening settles, put on some smoky jazz and get lost – sink into the aphrodisiac of the deep couches, take your paramour on an elevator ride – at night everyone comes to Chateau Marmont – this is the pageant and parade that evening brings, they come for the martini, for the sex appeal, to make the deal–naughty or nice, everyone is your darling. And after hours – there is the Bar Marmont – an outpost for the foreign correspondent you’ve become – all hotel guests are insiders – there is no velvet rope here. You are on liberty, sabbatical, furlough from your familiar life, you feel the heat, the sweat, the late night lust that is LA. This is the place you can most be yourself and it is the only grand hotel you can call home.”
–by A.M Homes
