Players nightclub on the Sunset Strip, opened by director Preston Sturges quietly during the Summer of 1940. The Chateau Marmont is on the right.

For more information, see: Spotlight on The Players

The following description was given to me by someone whose architect father did remodeling and design work for the Hollywood Reporter’s Billy Wilkerson, as well as Preston Sturges’s The Players club:

Interior of Players…there was a roof patio where diners could sit…umbrellas for the lunch crowd, no umbrellas for evenings.  Two longish interior rooms at same level (to the left as you look at exterior photo) as patio, white tablecloths for four-tops and such, and on the walls, shadow box models of sailing ships in glassed frames (burgundy with gold piping) above each table.  Very restrained decor, vaguely gentleman’s club in tone.  The maître d’ was almost too elegant to share the same airspace, but the waiters were gabby enough to explain what each dish was (soufflé potatoes, profiteroles and the like).  My favorite dinner was a starter of marinated herring, rare roast beef, those glorious potatoes, and for dessert, a Napoleon from the pastry tray.