BACK STORY: GARDEN OASIS ●

Dear Scott ’s working title was ‘The Garden Of Allah’, after the hotel at 8152 Sunset Blvd that was F Scott Fitzgerald’s Hollywood abode from 1937-38 as he toiled as an MGM screenwriter and tried to stay sober. A collection of rental villas around a pool shaped like the Black Sea, the Garden was the creation of Russian actress Alla Nazimova, and became renowned as a discreet haven for screen stars – Greta Garbo, Errol Flynn, Clara Bow, Harpo Marx – to indulge their decadent whims. Fitzgerald died in 1940, while the Garden closed in 1959, usurped by the nearby Chateau Marmont. Today at 8152 Sunset Blvd stands a branch of McDonald’s.