I do enjoy coming across a photo of the original “Eat in the Hat” Brown Derby restaurant, and although this one isn’t very big, it is wide enough to give us the context of its location. We can see that by the time this photo was taken in 1948, the Derby had added its outdoor-with-umbrellas dining option. We can also see that it had one of those striking streetlamps out front. It was called the Wilshire Special because they were made to only light up Wilshire Blvd.
This is how that corner looked in February 2023. We can see the dome of the Derby (on the left) incorporated into the mini mall that stands there now, and the next-door Gaylord apartment building is still there.
I wish I had eaten there in the two or so years I was here before it closed down! (I did get to eat in the Hollywood Brown Derby.) How many of us do not appreciate the things that are around us, or even know about them, until they’ve disappeared and then we wonder why we never went there.
Why would they destroy an iconic building like this to put up a crappy mini mall. Are the people NUTS that do these kind of things??????? Why didn’t the people of LA protest this atrocity??????
As a matter of fact, there was very big and strenuous protest at the time. See: https://calisphere.org/item/54ec8e057ee69948361aca0027a59774/
The photo notes in that link say “Picketers protest in front of the Brown Derby Restaurant on Wilshire Blvd., in fear that it will be razed and replaced by a high-rise. The restaurant had suddenly closed its doors after paying and dismissing employees. The demolition was halted and the Brown Derby was then donated to two preservation groups, the Hollywood Heritage and Los Angeles Conservancy.”
I recall having the news on back then, at night, and hearing, as best I can recall: “People are gathering at the Wilshire Brown Derby. After close of business tonight the employees were paid and let go, saying the restaurant was closing.” People immediately were afraid that the Brown Derby would be quickly demolished, which seemed to be the case. The developers knew no one wanted this to happen. I’m surprised to read it was donated to two preservation groups, because of where it ended up, in that nearby mini-mall. For a long time it was an Asian restaurant. A few years ago a friend and i were near there and so went to see it. It’s not been open for years and sits there empty. It’s sad. We sat on the brim of the hat and pondered the situation.
To John’s point above: “Developers” don’t care about history. They just care about the money from the land and/or the building of something new upon it. There are also developers that pretend to care about the history and “incorporate” what was there into the new buildings, but that is altering history, not preserving it and no one usually likes it. IMO.
That’s the second Wilshire location. The first restaurant was opened in February 1926 at 3427 Wilshire Boulevard, across Mariposa (?) from where the Auburn/Cord/Duesenberg dealership would be a bit later. That Derby building was bulldozed and the property incorporated into the Chapman Park Hotel, which was later replaced by today’s Equitable Life building.
Such a shame to lose an iconic building like The Brown Derby. It was so full of Hollywood history.