Oof! This one is hard to look at: the destruction of the original Brown Derby restaurant at 3377 Wilshire Blvd. Even though technically it wasn’t the actual original one—the very first hat-shaped Brown Derby was at 3427 Wilshire between Mariposa & Alexandria until it moved half a block east in 1937—it’s the one we all think of when we think of the restaurant where people got to “Eat in the Hat” as the neon sign said. In September 1980, this restaurant closed without warning, and despite efforts to preserve it, the place was demolished anyway. One concession is that the dome was preserved and added to the mini mall that went up in its place.
Tina S. said: “They pink-slipped the employees on their last night, and one called me at the LAC office. The next morning we had protestors, news and Gary Leonard. It helped raise awareness for the preservation/reuse movement. We really tried.”
In this May 2024 image, we can see the dome of the Brown Derby tucked away at the end of the mini mall that stands there now.
Usually you can distinguish the two Derbys by the number of front doors: the original had two, while the rebuilt version only had one. Pretty amazing that anything at all was preserved from this mess.
I used to work a couple of blocks down the street. I used to go there several times a month with one of my customers, Ed Visher who went on to become an actor who appeared in several movies.
The food was delicious and the staff was very professional & attentive. I still miss that place! Many of the staff had worked there for most of their careers. They showed up one day & the doors were locked. A sad ending to a great restaurant!
Sadly when that hideous strip mall is demolished in the future…
nobody will care, and unfortunately a part of “Old Hollywood”
will end up in landfill!
Pathetic…
There are people who care. There is the LA Conservancy, who advocate for buildings like this.