Cotton Club – corner National and Washington, Culver City. One of several venues run by Frank Sebastian. No relation to, but inspired by, the one in Harlem. Was previously The Green Mill build in 1923 as one of the Southland’s largest entertainment emporium then in 1926 became the Cotton Club and L.A.’s premier Prohibition nightspot. Also, it was the first to feature exclusively “colored” orchestras. And if you lasted all night, he served an eggs-and-ham breakfast. Later it became the Casa Manana (which became a major dance venue after the burning down of the Palomar in October 1938) and later Meadowbrook Gardens. Burned to the ground in 1948. (40/24)
Frank Sebastian also owned the successful Sebastian’s Café on Windward Ave, Venice. The popular cafe, sometimes referred to as Venice Cafe and/or Frank Sebastian’s Venice Cafe was located on Winward Ave., Venice, and specialized in vaudeville and jazz. By 1926, Sebastian would open the Frank Sebastian’s Cotton Club in Culver City and close the Venice club.
Advertisement for Sebastian’s Cotton Club from The Hollywood Low-Down January 25, 1935
“It was a hottie-bawdy place my relatives all loved and talked about the wild times there for years after. Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, some wonderful dancing revues and the great Louis Armstrong played there often. Frank Sebastian apparently had a club first in Venice on Windward, closed that when he opened the Cotton in Culver. It was HUGE in size and in entertainment. Mom said it was the kind of place you could dance right through the souls of your shoes! There are only a few pixs I see floating out there of it. Culver Historical or maybe the Sony museum should have some things on it since it was a big draw for all sides of the ‘ethnic’ bench in Hollywood.”
Hey just searching for info on the cotton club,,because I have a cotton club menu from culver city ,,I just found in my fathers garage,,it’s cool,,so I was just check it out..
Hey there,,when cleaning out my grandfathers garage I found a bunch of old menus of restraunts in old l.a,,all from the 1940 era,,I was looking to sell some of them so if anybody out there enterested give me a e mail zanny65 @ yahoo.com,,