The fourth Brown Derby restaurant in Los Angeles opened in 1940 at 4500 Los Feliz Blvd, which made it a perfect place for a before-the-show dinner when going to the nearby Greek Theatre. I’ve seen photos of it before, but have never noticed that sign on the circular roof: CAR CAFÉ. I’m not sure how I missed it seeing as how those letters were probably 4 to 5 feet tall. But it does mean it was the only Brown Derby to be a drive-in. That sign on the left reads: “Drive-in Car Service – Always Open.” This photo is circa 1941.
Though virtually unrecognizable today, the building is still there. This is how it looked in August 2024.
Opened in 1929 as Willard’s Chicken Inn, then purchased by Cecil B. DeMille in 1941 and converted into a Brown Derby restaurant. In 1960, actor Michael St. Angel purchased the restaurant and renamed it Michaels of Los Feliz. In 1992, it became a nightclub called The Derby. In 2006, the Los Angeles City Council designated the building a Historic Cultural Monument.
Current use…The building is now occupied by an Italian restaurant and a bank.
The Los Feliz Brown Derby was indeed a Drive-In, but it also did have an in person dining room, according to the 1996 book about it. The book references the famous I Love Lucy episode at the Brown Derby and says “Bob & Sally Cobb gave a party to screen the episode for Lucy, Desi, the cast and the press in the new private room at the Los Feliz Brown Derby.”
Though now live out of state,
decades from childhood on living in
LA area, and familiar with so many
places but not this as pre my time.
Miss the original Brown Derbys.
I’ve had dinner in that building and never knew its history! What fun! The building in its current incarnation is pretty forgettable, though.