One of my time travel destinations would be this place: the Cafe Trocadero at 8610 Sunset Blvd. It opened on September 18, 1934, by Billy Wilkerson, owner of The Hollywood Reporter. (According to one story I read, the building had once been a warehouse where Wilkerson had stored his alcohol after the repeal of Prohibition.) It very quickly became Hollywood’s premier nightclub of the mid-to-late 1930s and was where David O. Selznick chose to hold the post-premiere party for Gone with the Wind on December 28, 1939.

And here are a couple of interior shots:

This ceiling looks surprisingly low, don’t you think? (see comment below)

Advertisement for the opening of the Cafe Trocadero, 8610 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, 1934:

Susan says: “The ceiling was sort of low because that was the private ballroom on the lower level. The club upstairs had a high ceiling. I don’t remember the club well as I only went there a couple times to an early dinner show with my folks, probably around ’35 and ’36 I would guess. I only remember the lower level from my wanderings when I went looking for the ladies room and could not resist going downstairs to take a peek there.

My cousin says that lower ballroom was not only available for private parties, but was open a number of nights per week and it was the place to just grab a light meal and cocktails vs. the full-on show room upstairs.

The upstairs main room had sort of accordion pleated padded walls. I think they had some plants in there too. As best I recall, the dance floor was pretty large – but then I was just a kid. But I think the dance floor was as big as some of the ones in the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.”