El Royale's Celeb Renters Pissed That Management Wants to Namedrop

The 1929 El Royale apartment building in Hancock Park has been a celebrity favorite throughout its history for its views, huge units, and valet parking. In a 2010 C magazine article, several tenants describe the building's residents as one big family--I Love You, Man writer/director John Hamburg even wrote a sitcom based on the building (Remember Jeffrey Tambor and Raquel Welch in Welcome to the Captain? Anyone?). However, tenants at the time were also nervous about manager Sandy Griffin's retirement after 37 years, which followed owner Martha Scott's death in 2009. Flash forward: the new management recently circulated a letter asking to use tenants' bold-faced names, bios, and photos in a booklet for a lobby display (which also features the building's ca. 1930 doors chalked with tenant names including William Faulkner), and in other publications and ads "that will be available to the public." Uh oh. The first rule of celebrity-adjacency is "never talk [on the record] about celebrity-adjacency."

A tipster, who does not live in the building but has many sources on the inside, writes in an email "The industry tenants, including several celebs, are now reputedly trying to move out as a result." She says that one penthouse is already empty.