When I started researching bars, nightclubs and restaurants popular during the years the Garden of Allah Hotel was open, one of the names that appeared regularly in memoirs and autobiographies was the Tick Tock Tea Room at 1716 Cahuenga Blvd, Hollywood. This shot is from around 1950, but it was open a long time, from 1934 to 1988 and seemed to be everybody’s perennial favorite. I guess it’s because they served hearty comfort food quickly and cheaply to people living in an increasingly busy, urban, and sprawling metropolis. They also became famous for their famous sticky orange rolls that people couldn’t get enough of.
For more information, see: The Tick Tock Tea Room: Comfort Food From An Uncomfortable Era
I remember the Tick Tock with such fondness. Went there often in the day. Love, Lou.
Before we were married, my wife and I spent many of our Friday and Saturday night dates in Hollywood. This was in the 1950’s when it was a fun place to go. The Tick Tock was always a favorite destination. The food was always good and no one could ever resist the sticky orange rolls. It was a sad day for many people when the owner decided to close the restaurant and move to New York City to open up a soup kitchen for the homeless. Perhaps a noble purpose, but those of us who had been loyal customers were generally not impressed with his altruism.
From KCET’s website, here’s the recipe for those Orange Sticky Rolls:
https://www.kcet.org/food/weekend-recipe-orange-sticky-rolls
Did you ever eat there, Martin? My best friend and I went there frequently in the 70s. Now that I’m in my 70s I often wish it were still there. It was folks of my age, mostly, mixed with the occasional tourists, who ate there, some of them as regulars because it was such a shot of affordable, home-style cooking.
No, Gene, it was long gone by the time I landed in LA, but everybody I know who ate there loved it.
While reading about a record store that will be opening on April 1, the Tick Tock came to mind.
I worked at the Hollywood Pacific Theater in the early 70’s and it was just down the street from the Tick Tock. I ate there occasionally, and our theater manager ate there regularly with friends. Fun to think back to those times. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for stopping by. Lucky you that you got to eat at The Tick Tock. It gets brought up more than almost any other restaurant from that era. (The other one that gets a lot of attention is King’s Tropical Inn.)
i was staying at the Franklyn Hotel on Francklyn Ave and asked for a good place to eat and they recommended the Tick Tock and they were right in fact the owner came and sat at the table with me i remember the buns as they were free i think also remember the clocks on the walls.enjoyed the food as well fond memory.
The buns at the Tick Tock sure must have been good – everybody seems to remember them!
My Aunt’s parents were owners of the original Tick Tock! She is the last surviving biological daughter of the original Art and Helen Johnson. Her name is Helene Johnson Bradley. She is an amazing Aunt, not to mention an amazing woman, so kind and loving and always leaves an impression with anyone who crosses her path. She is now in her last weeks of life and has been sharing her memories of the Tick Tock with me. Please send a special prayer and thanks to this fantastic woman that we can all learn kindness, compassion and love. Helene is the last of the Johnson’s that will be exiting this world with such fond memories of all that she met and served at the Tick Tock. Some of the best years of her life other than those years spent with her beloved husband, Bill Bradley!
Hi Sarah, and thanks for stopping by. Whenever I post or mention the Tick Tock, people invariably have warm and wonderful memories of dining there. That restaurant brought many hours of dining pleasure to Angelenos!
You are so lucky to hear your aunt’s memories of the Tick Tock and all of Hollywood of the past. When I was there in the 1970’s it was a little worn on the edges but still a fun and vibrant area. I send her positive thoughts and prayers
I only met my Dad’s Aunt Helen once, when we took a trip to visit family on the West Coast in1987. I was just 16, so I just mostly remember being impatient to get back behind the wheel. I wish I’d paid more attention (and respect), as I have since heard that in the midst of the Depression, when things were touch-and-go, Helen and Art bought Grandpa and Grandma’s farm (her brother, Jack and his wife, Helen) and sold it back to them on good, AFFORDABLE terms. They even went so far as to have an architect friend of theirs design a Prairie Style farmhouse for the property (which would have been outlandishly expensive to build, even IF they could find a local contractor to take it on). In the end, they were quite happy with the Sears house (or Sears-inspired) that was built (and where my cousin now lives and farms with his young family). There are over 100 direct descendents of Jack and Helen today, happily thriving all over the country, all because of Helen and Art Johnsons’ good, GENEROUS hearts. Prayers and blessings for Helene, for you and for all the Johnson/Bradley relatives!
Hi Sarah, Aunt Helen was my great aunt. Her sister, Maryann, is my grandmother. I remember Helen passing away it was such a sad day. Maryann passed away this last July. Seeings Helen always made me tear up because she looked so much like my grandmother before she got sick. I have very fond memories of aunt Helen growing up. I was doing a deep dive on my family history and found this. I love hearing so many things about such great people I had in my life<3
I would love to talk to you! Please feel free to call, text, email…She was amazing!!! Miss her so much! My Uncle, Bill (Helene’s husband) is so important to me to this day (My God Father/Mother’s brother). It would be a lot of fun to talk about our memories…..So glad you found this and we were able to connect! Aunt Helene would love this!!!
I ate at the Tick Tock with my grandmother in 1959. I ordered a shrimp cocktail After our lunch at the Tick Tock, we watched Ben Hur at the Egyptian theatre. One of the greatest days of my young life!
I can imagine!
My grandfather, George Hennen Sr. (Helen Johnson’s brother), helped Art & Helen run the Hollywood Tick Tock and later ran the second Tick Tock in Toluca Lake. So many family stories center around this place, and my dad and his siblings all worked there as teenagers. I’m sad I never got to see it!
Hi Leah, and thanks for chiming in. I’ve always had the impression that the Tick Tock was very much a family affair!
The owners of Tick Tock are my great grandparents! It unfortunately closed down way before I was born but I love hearing all of the stories my dad, Michael Johnson, has told me about working there. My dad told me Thanksgiving was their busiest day of the year so he’s had to cut many, many turkeys throughout his life. Which means he now shows us his professional turkey cutting skills every Thanksgiving to this day haha. I wish to have been able to experience my families restaurant so I am very grateful to at least be able to look at old pictures!
Wow, Danielle! So your great grandparents owned the Tick Tock? Amazing! Of all the restaurants I’ve featured here on this site, the Tick Tock is one of the ones people always recall with such fondness, and is where they have such great memories.
Danielle, I love hearing the stories as well! My Aunt, Helene Bradley Johnson and your father must of been cousins! The Johnson’s (Art and Helen) were my Aunts parents. My wonderful, departed Aunt Helene (miss her dearly), shared many fond memories/stories of working at the restaurant. It was very much a family affair. Celebrities would frequent the restaurant on a regular basis. When I asked of her favorite celebrity guest, she said, “Bob Hope and Jonathan Winters!” Wish I could go back in time and be a guest at the Tick Tock!
When I volunteered at Centrum of Hollywood (A halfway house that was north of the Masker’s dirt parking lot north of the car rental place at the corner of sycamore and Hollywood Blvd.) in the mid 1977, Tick Tock used to send a complete Turkey dinner to the halfway house every other friday. On the other friday they sent a huge amount of Chicken Soup rolls and salad. They were great folks.
I was born in Los Angeles and only lived there until I was 7 years old, in 1976, but I remember the Tick Tock and their rolls and their little sherbet cups. I was just telling my mother-in-law about them and decided to look online and see if they were still open. I expected that they probably weren’t.
My mom was a waitress there in the 40’s
Did she like working there? From what I’ve heard, it was a very family-oriented place.