Color photo of Toff’s on Hollywood Blvd at Orchid Ave near Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, during the summer of 1967

Color photo of Toff's on Hollywood Blvd at Orchid Ave near Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, Hollywood during the summer 1967About a week ago, I posted a photo of the then-freshly laid stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In the background, I noticed a sign for a diner I’d never heard of called Toff’s. Quite my accident I later came across this color photo showing that their main sign was blue and their Googie angled roof. This photo was taken during the summer of 1967, when the 5th James Bond movie, “You Only Live Twice” was enjoying its impressive 10-week run at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.

In this photo we can see Toff’s Googie-style architecture:

Toff's diner, Hollywood Blvd at Orchid next to Grauman's Chinese Theater

Matchbook for Toff’s restaurant: “Try Our Fine Foods”

I found this one on the LosAngelesTheatres blog taken May or June, 1955 when “Daddy Long Legs” was playing Grauman’s Chinese.

Toff's diner near Grauman's Chinese Theatre May/June 1955

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12 responses to “Color photo of Toff’s on Hollywood Blvd at Orchid Ave near Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, during the summer of 1967”

  1. john says:

    I love the tall guy and the short chubby fellow underneath him. Why doesn’t anyone do fun stuff like that today? When was toff’s destroyed?

    • I’m having trouble finding any info on Toff’s at all, which is surprising given it’s prominent location next to Grauman’s Chinese.

      • Martin Pal says:

        The middle photo of Toff’s above from the Los Angeles Theatres Blog is from 1954 and has a sign in the window that says “Open Soon.” The latest photo I’ve seen of it was on Bruce Torrence’s Hollywood Photographs and that was dated 1977.

        Lots of photos were taken around the Chinese in 1977-78 when Star Wars was there, but I can’t find any that showed the corner where Toff’s was. It was definitely not there when the Chinese 2 & 3 Theatres opened in that spot in 1979.

  2. Gene Dryer-Bivins says:

    It was little more than a covered lunch counter. I’ve never seen one that narrow. It puts me in mind of the long lunch counters in the Woolworth buildings. I’d like to have stopped there on a sunny afternoon.

    • Yes, those two B&W photos show how narrow it was. And yes, it looks like it had to have been one long counter.

      • Al Donnelly says:

        You can see tables and chairs along the window with the long counter seats beyond. It’s always possible that there could have been a basement area for storage and more. But that storm drain might be a problem.

  3. Al Donnelly says:

    She’s wielding a movie camera…where’s that footage now?

  4. Martin Pal says:

    The matchbook photo is the first I’ve heard that Toff’s stands for Try Our Fine Foods.” I just thought it was someone’s name!

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