Don’t let the rather innocuous looking building that housed the Club Seville on the Sunset Strip fool you. It started out life as the Clover Club, where high-stakes gamblers like David O. Selznick and Harry Cohn lost their shirts before the vice squad closed down the joint in 1938. In its place rose Club Seville, which featured a glass dance floor laid over a pool filled with live carp. It sounds like a cool idea, but women objected to having fish eyes peering up their skirts, and everyone was afraid the floor would shatter. So Club Seville barely lasted a year, after which Billy Wilkerson of The Hollywood Reporter gave the place a lavish makeover and a new name that would soon become synonymous with glamorous Hollywood nightclubs: Ciro’s.
Roughly that same view in May 2016. The Ciro’s building is now the Comedy Store, one of LA’s premier stand-up comedy venues.
I’m looking for the Seville nightclub in Hollywood that hosted live big band music in the 1950’s. Terry Gibbs cut some outstanding live recordings at The Seville in those days. This building was Ciro’s in the 50’s.
Don’t let the rather innocuous looking building that housed the Club Seville on the Sunset Strip fool you. It started out life as the Clover Club, where high-stakes gamblers like David O. Selznick and Harry Cohn lost their shirts before the vice squad closed down the joint in 1938. In its place rose Club Seville, which featured a glass dance floor laid over a pool filled with live carp. It sounds like a cool idea, but women objected to having fish eyes peering up their skirts, and everyone was afraid the floor would shatter. So Club Seville barely lasted a year, after which Billy Wilkerson of The Hollywood Reporter gave the place a lavish makeover and a new name that would soon become synonymous with glamorous Hollywood nightclubs: Ciro’s.
Nice one. I remember Ciro’s well.
Lucky you, William. I wish I could say that!
It’s hard to believe that a club with a glass dance floor and live fish was not photographed inside. What a sight it must have been.
Finding an interior photo of Club Seville is one of my holy grails.
I’m looking for the Seville nightclub in Hollywood that hosted live big band music in the 1950’s. Terry Gibbs cut some outstanding live recordings at The Seville in those days. This building was Ciro’s in the 50’s.