Moon Over Miami Club, 13333 1/2 Ventura Blvd, Sherman Oaks, California

Jennie Poll – President

Jack Morrill – Vice-President

Tommy Thompson – Secretary-Treasurer

Telephone: V. N. 8360

“Dine – Dance – Swim – Ride”

Here’s a question I’m putting out there: Someone just sent me this photo of her grandmother’s certificate of “Retail Dealer in Fermented Malt Liquor.” Her grandmother owned a place called “Moon Over Miami” which was on Ventura Blvd in what is now Studio City. Those monthly strips at the top of the certificate – what were they for? Was the owner required to send it in each month with some sort of payment? To whom? For what?

Susan M says: “Not sure what the strips at the top might be for – possibly part of the payment sent in to the IRS each month. However, I would think if that were the case, the tax ID for that payment would be on those strips. They also might have been part of what needed to be displayed inside the business to help show that the federal malt liquor license was paid up to date, so those drinking there would not worry they might be arrested for drinking malt in a business that was not licensed to sell fortified beer. Post prohibition, lots of folks were concerned about drinking at a place that maybe was not in full compliance with all the laws and possibly being part of a raid. After prohibition ended, there were many yearly changes to the fed. and state alcohol license laws. The feds used to charge their taxes based on the % of alcohol, vs the state (least in CA) charged by the volume of alcohol. I was not of drinking age then, but I do remember all the scuttlebutt about places that ‘cut’ their liquor down so they payed less taxes. For example, a shop might sell 60 proof vs 80 proof bourbon. Hope this helps your understanding of how times were back then.“

But if anybody reading this knows the reason for the strips or if you have any information or memories about this club, I would love it if you could email me about it!

See also this post by Karl Gerber:
http://employeelawca.com/vintagela/sherman-oaks-stables/

Karl Gerber says:

August 31, 2015 at 10:32 pm

I will be researching this forthwith. Any historic question in this area deserves immediate attention by me. Here is what I know. 13400 Ventura was a stable and club until around 1940 once the Longridge Development by Lockyear took off. Maps show a camp and large pool roughly where St. Francis is today on Dixie Canyon behind 13333 Ventura. I believe the advertisement pre-dates 1939. This was a private club so the phone number is elsewhere; the president or something’s home. The 1333 1/2 is a typo. 863 is a prefix associated with Bunker Hill. Tony as in Tony’s Liquor on Dixie and Ventura may recall the camp/swimming thing. I think I asked him.

The answer to this important question may appear on my vintage blog: http://employeelawca.com/vintagela/

Martin Turnbull says:

September 1, 2015 at 7:17 am

Thanks for your comment, Karl. It would be great if you could find out any more info that what I posted on my site. Those images came from someone back East who had a family member connected with it. She couldn’t find anything on it so she approached me. I checked all my usual resources, but could find NOTHING! So if you could dig up something, that would be wonderful.

September 3, 2015 at 10:14 pm

13333 Ventura was a real estate office in 1939/1940. The same alley dividing it and Dixie Canyon Elementary was there then.

The entire tract of land from Dixie Canyon to Fulton South of the Los Angeles River and North of the alley was Rudy’s Dine, Dance, Swim, and Ride. The WPA characterized it as a business problem area which in this case meant it attracted trouble. This area of land is where Dixie Canyon Elementary and St. Francis are now located. What I would give to see pictures of this site in action!

Leafing through WPA maps was a headache. This is what 3-4 hours of historic research brings. If anybody has any historic questions on this part of town feel free to inquire and I won’t charge you my $500 an hour legal rate. It’s all free.

SHERMAN OAKS DINING, STABLES, AND SWIMMING OF YESTERYEAR | Vintage Los Angeles says:

September 4, 2015 at 11:51 am

[…] Rudy’s Dine, Dance, Swim, and Ride went from Dixie Canyon to Fulton North of the present alley in back of Ventura Boulevard to South of the Los Angeles River. These are the present sites of Dixie Canyon Elementary and Saint Francis de Sales both of which can be seen from the window of my Sherman Oaks office. Rudy’s was characterized as a rowdy place by the Works Project Administration (WPA) in 1939. The combination of equines, beer, and dancing caused riots. One can only imagine no-good girls with pompadour hairstyles and hoodlums carousing the area in teen buckets. Another Los Angeles authority, Martin Turnbull, posted a question about promotional materials he obtained for this location. https://www.martinturnbull.com/2015/05/10/moon-over-miami-club-13333-12-ventura-blvd-sherman-oaks-cal… […]