Without an automobile to help date this photo of the original Brown Derby restaurant at 3427 Wilshire Blvd, it’s hard to know when it was taken. I usually try to date the vintage photos I post, but I don’t really mind in this case. The Brown Derby was a timeless, icon of the Los Angeles cityscape, and the version shown in this photo is how I always think of it.
** UPDATE ** – It looks like this photo was taken in 1937.
We can see the dome of the Derby incorporated into the mini mall that now stands on that corner. This image is from March 2021.
Is that the original dome in the mini mall? What intersection is this? I cannot recognize it for some reason.
Yes, they built the dome into the mini mall, which is at Wilshire and Alexandria.
The Pomona Public Library has the Frasher Foto collection and there are two other photos of the Brown Derby that have the same hand writing from 1936 and 1937 which would also hold up with the style of pants worn by the men.
Thanks for finding that one, Stephen. I did an image search but nothing came up to match it.
In fact the 1937 image appears to have been taken on the same day from a different angle because the first umbrella is bent in the same way.
Here’s a photo from the same photographer of the Derby stating 1937. It looks like the same group of diners on the patio in white hats.
https://oac.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt067nc2np/?docId=kt067nc2np&brand=oac4&layout=printable-details
Thanks, Johnny! I’ve amended the post.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but there may be a more fundamental problem with dating the image: It shows the post-1939 building after the move to the northeast corner of Wilshire and Alexandria (at 3377 Wilshire) but gives the old address of the post-1926 building at 3427 Wilshire. If that is the case, the image must be from or after 1939.
You’re quite right, David. This is at the latter Brown Derby location, so I’ve changed the details. Thanks for catching that!
It thus has to be in or after 1939, not 1937.
MY 25 year old nephew has heard of the “Brown Derby” but not that it was a restaurant. Someone could score big by replicating this structure in Hollywood.
Saw this yesterday with no comments, amazing subsequent detective work. One amendment, remember reading while it was happening, mini-mall developer leveled original structure in the middle of the night, so the dome incorporated into the mall was a “homage” only reproduction.
OH REALLY??? That dome is on a reproduction? I didn’t know that!