This atmospheric night shot of Ciro’s nightclub on the Sunset Strip is hard to date because the exterior of the place didn’t change much over the years it was open (1940 to 1957.) All we have to go on are the car parked along Sunset. The most recent one we can see is a Packard Clipper, but it is impossible to tell from whether it’s a 1942 model or a virtually identical 1946 or 1947. In the absence of development time, all major companies built warmed-over versions of their prewar cars for the first few years after WWII. So the best we can do is “circa 1940s” and wish the sign out front was clearer so that who was playing Ciro’s that week.

**UPDATE**

This photograph is from 1942 and the sign out front is advertising the coming engagement of bandleader Xavier Cugat, who was often seen in musical films of the era.

Jon Ponder says: “In Sheila Weller’s “Dancing at Ciro’s,” she says that Billy Wilkerson didn’t book musical acts and hated marquees — his vision of Ciro’s was that it was like a private club for Hollywood elites. Drinks, dinner and dancing to a “house” band. So if there’s a marquee, the photo’s from the Herman Hover (Shelia’s uncle) era. He put up the banners, like the ones shown here, at first but later installed a fixed marquee.”