Color photos of the Vine Street Brown Derby aren’t too common so I’ll gratefully take every one I can get. This one was taken in 1948 when their neighbors were Western Air Line and Maurice Inc, which sold knitwear. I don’t know for sure, but I would imagine that rent in the Brown Derby building wouldn’t have been cheap, so Maurice Holman would have had to have sold a lot of sweaters and scarfs to make the rent. The archway to the right of Maurice was the alley leading to the guest parking. Given the A-list clientele of the Derby, there must have been some might fine vehicles back there every single day.
What’s left of the building is now dwarfed by high-rise apartment buildings. But at least there’s *something* left of it. (This image is from January 2018.)
Hey, Martin!
I found this on Jan Whitaker’s blog Restaurant-ing through history. I thought your readers might enjoy it. This is one fancy (and complicated) hamburger!
Brown Derby’s Hamburger de Luxe
A recipe from Derby owner Bob Cobb at the 1628 North Vine Street location in Hollywood ca. 1950.
2 lbs ground sirloin
1 raw egg
2 cups chicken broth
½ tsp English mustard
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp chicken fat
de Luxe Sauce:
2 cups brown sauce (canned or from beef roast)
1 tbsp English mustard
2 tsp Sauce Diable or A-1
1 tbsp Worcestershire
½ cup catsup
2 pats butter
Chopped parsley
Mix meat, egg, and broth, then add the other ingredients. Use one full coffee cup of the mixture for each burger. Boil sauce ingredients together, adding parsley. Pour sauce over hamburgers.
Thanks, Denise. And now I’m jonesing for a burger!
I never visited this Brown Derby. However, I used to work on the corner of Wilshire & Catalina in the 70s & was a regular diner at that Derby. It was across the street from the fabulous Ambassador Hotel where I also frequently dined. These were some of the last vestiges of Old L.A. Glamor & I do miss them!
Lucky you that you got to experience the Brown Derby *and* the Ambassador. For me they can only exist in photographs and my imagination.