Hollywood HAUNTINGS

Oh, ghoul-friend! Colin's LA getaway is not for the faint-hearted

- COLIN HOGG

Hollywood is haunted. I know this because I've shared accommodation with some of its ghosts on visits in recent years. Right now, and for the next few weeks, I’m living with the ghost of Marilyn Monroe. She’s been no trouble at all so far. Greta Garbo might be, though. She used to live here too. And it’s claimed Madonna was once resident, though of course, she’s no ghost.

For our stay in Los Angeles, the temporary accommodation looks like a cross between a wedding cake and a castle. It was built in 1937 in the Hollywood Hills by Warner Brothers to house some of their “starlets”. I’m not sure which starlet was in which of the 10 apartments in the building, but someone’s bound to have practised their lines in our temporary living room.