In all the photos I’ve seen of the Vine Street Brown Derby, I’ve never seen one of the building before it became the Derby. The restaurant opened on Valentine’s Day in 1929, so I’m guessing this photo was taken around late 1928 before any of the Derby’s features like the awning over the sidewalk and the derby-shaped neon sign were installed. The building itself was built for the Vine Street Holding Company and film director, Cecil B. DeMille. It was his studio office before the Lasky movie studios at Vine and Selma moved its operations to what later became Paramount Pictures on Melrose Ave. The owners then leased the ground floor space to the Brown Derby Restaurant.