Mona Lisa restaurant and insurance building, 3343 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, 1930
And in the “They Sure Don’t Build ‘em Like This Anymore” category, we’ve got this richly detailed office building that stretched the block of Wilshire Blvd between Kenmore Ave and Catalina St. This photo is from 1930, when the main tenant was an insurance company—boring old insurance and it looks like an upscale showroom in Beverly Hills! At the western end was a popular (Italian, I assume) restaurant called Mona Lisa, and on the far right we can see the Gaylord Apartments, which are still with us.
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A pic of a menu purported to be from the Mona Lisa.
https://bit.ly/3gnTu1A
From an old ebay listing
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mona-Lisa-Restaurant-Menu-3343-Wilshire-Blvd-Los-Angeles-California-/264627336059?nma=true&si=xD6X7OHjC83nMYe14pLkqjGFjFs%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
According to this site the Mona Lisa served French/Italian cusine.
“Situated across from the Ambassador Hotel, where Hollywood met the more adventurous of the downtown establishment, the building’s initial west-end tenant was the Mona Lisa, a French-Italian café initially under the same management as film-industry favorite Musso & Frank.”
https://wilshireboulevardhouses.blogspot.com/2013/04/
Thanks, Johnny!
That menu HAD to be circa early-’60s? And Martin, sighs of nostalgic regret are your
website’s stock-in-trade, unfortunately.
Yes, Rich, that menu doesn’t look like it would have pre-1950, does it? And yes, nostalgic regret seems to come with the territory!
My grandparents had their wedding reception at this location in 1937. Thank you so much for posting these photos so I could see the beautiful restaurant and completely understand why they chose it!
You’re very welcome, Cheryl!