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~~ HOLLYWOOD PLACES – Q to T ~~

In the course of researching the Garden of Allah novels, I came across all sorts of places in and around Hollywood and the greater Los Angeles area and started to collect the information together into one location on my website. The references at the end of each entry refer to the page number of the book where I found the information. (So “2/15″ refers to page 2 of book 15 listed on my bibliography page.) Readers of these pages will note the occasional inconstancy–that is due to conflicting sources from which this information was taken. This is my long-winded way of saying that I am not presenting this information as professionally-researched, definitive, you-can-take-it-as-gospel. It ain’t. It’s just a huge pile of info I’ll pulled from a wide variety of books, websites, magazine articles. Take it, like it, lump it or leave it.

See also: The Garden of Allah Novels companion map of Los Angeles and Hollywood

~

Radio City Fountain Grill Restaurant, 1499 N. Vine St, Hollywood (north of Sunset Blvd, next to the NBC radio/television studios)

Radio City Tourist Motel – 1319 Tamarind Ave, Hollywood

Radlicks candy store and soda fountain next to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood (1940s)

Radio Room – 1539 Vine St. Hollywood. Telephone: HOllywood 6331

Rancho Grande – Western café. Sunset Boulevard at Cahuenga. Phone GL-1641

Radium Sulphur Springs – Corner Melrose Ave and Gower St in the “Colegrove” area of Los Angeles. Colegrove was the name given to the area to the immediate south of the city of Hollywood.
For more information, see
http://www.kcet.org/updaily/socal_focus/history/la-as-subject/hooray-forcolegrove-remembering-hollywoods-forgotten-neighbor.html

Rainbow Tavern – Broadway at 10^th Street, downtown Los Angeles. Opened December 7, 1921

Rand’s Round-Up Restaurants
7580 Sunset Blvd.
7860 Beverly Blvd
13920 Ventura Blvd.
3550 Wilshire Blvd.
617 South Brand
8401 S. Figueroa

Ravenswood – 570 North Rossmore Ave. – Art Deco apartment building built in the late 1920s and opened in 1930. Was home to Mae West (with its handy location to her studio: Paramount) from 1932 to 1980.

The Retreat, 217 W 5th St, Los Angeles: “Yes, it’s polite to eat and run these days.”

The Red Snapper Restaurant, 826 N. La Cienega, Phone:Crestview 4-2629
The Red Snapper Restaurant, 4100 Riverside Dr, Toluca Lake. Phone Victoria 9-1618

Red Log, 1776 Westwood Blvd, Los Angeles, Phone: Granite 8-4076

Red Post Café – 7156 Santa Monica Blvd. Before the Formosa Café opened in 1939, it was the Red Post Café – “In reality, the Formosa is believed to date back to 1915 as a diner, though “the first documented reference to a restaurant at that site is a tiny eatery called the Red Post Cafe,” in the 1920s. An article references the Red Post Cafe as late as April 12, 1939” https://www.findinglostangeles.com/all-content/2020/3/18/formosa-cafe

The Redhead – lesbian venue in East L.A. that only welcomed Mexican Americans. (60/89)

The Red Snapper Restaurant – 826 N. La Cienega, Phone: Crestview 4-2629
-and- 4100 Riverside Dr, Toluca Lake. Phone Victoria 9-1618

Red Onion Café – 3128 Beverly Boulevard. Was around in the late 1920s, but some time after the end of Prohibition, it was bought by Elmer and Tess Wheeler. Tess was aka “Tess the International Mess” who went on to run Club Internationale at 8711 Sunset Boulevard in the late 1930s/early 1940s. The place was raided on October 6, 1935. Tess was arrested and charged with nine violations, including operating a “disorderly house” and putting on a show without a license. Also arrested were ten patrons of the bar, which the Times described as a “beer parlor.” A week later the State Board of Equalization its liquor license, effectively forcing the Red Onion out of business.

Regent Bowling Alleys – 1666 Highland Ave, Hollywood (circa 1919)

Rene and Jean – 639 South Olive St, Los Angeles. French restaurant. “A good place to eat”

Retake Room – a bar just off the MGM lot behind the Thalberg building. (32/176) http://www.jodavidsmeyer.com/combat/episodes/bridge_at_chalons.html

Started out as “Jim Stacey’s” after Prohibition, then became “France Edwards’”, then the Retake Room. Closed in June 1959. Article on closing: http://bit.ly/1dBvZLh

A fellow named Ferris Webster was a Film Editor for MGM Studios in Culver City and also owned a very popular bar and grill called the “Retake Room” right across from the entrance and exit to the studio (not a bad location, eh?). Ferris was a real nice guy with a lot of dough…  http://eagle2team.com/ronscorner/circletrackinpart1.html

The Rex– floating casino anchored three miles off Santa Monica Bay. Launched by ex-con Tony Cornero (real name Anthony Stralla) on 05MAY38 and generally considered the grandest of all the floating casinos. Originally a fishing barge, it was transformed with $250,000 into an ark-like freighter that hardly matched the ocean liner pictured in his full-page ads. The sophisticated ad campaign worked: within a month, he had hosted over a million people. For a couple of years the Rex could be counted on to fill the gambling void (created by an authorities crack down on land-based gambling) until the authorities forced the ship out of business just before WWII. (40/167) Anchored off the Santa Monica pier was the SS Rex, the king of the 3-mile-limit crafts that offered gambling to the city’s society crowd during the 1930s and remained a constant source of irritation for lawmen. 13 water taxis carried customers out to the Rex, a 12-minute ride that was both comfortable and inexpensive. (48/329)

Rexall Drugs – General offices of the Rexall Drug Co. together with the largest and most beautiful drug store in the world. NOTE: present site of Beverly Connection, at intersection of La Cienega and Beverly Blvd., across from Beverly Center.

Rhum Boogie – a nightclub Mickey Cohen operated on Highland Ave, near Hollywood Boulevard. A novel concept for Jim Crow Los Angeles, the club imported “black and tan” entertainers, like the singing, dancing Trenier Brothers, from the Central Avenue ghetto into the white neighborhood. (115/p55)

The Rhythm Room at the Hotel Hayward – Corner 6^th Street and Spring Street, downtown Los Angeles.

Richlor’s, 150 N. Cienega Boulevard, Beverly Hills. Phone Crestview 52130 – “. . . featuring planked hamburger steaks and a unique seafood bar.”

Rings Music – music store on Cherokee, south of Hollywood Boulevard had the largest sheet music collection in the world. (p266/113)

Ritz Cafe – 6770 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood (circa 1940s)

Robaire’s French Restaurant – 348 S La Brea (1952 to 1990)

Robert Brothers Drive-In

• Pico at Western
• Wilshire at Vermont
• Sunset at Cahuenga, Hollywood
• Victory at Sepulveda, Van Nuys
• Victory at Olive, Burbank
• Pico at Sepulveda
  COCKTAILS IN:
• Rumba Room – Wilshire at Vermont
• La Cantina – Sepulveda at Pico
• The Intrepid Fox – Victory at Sepulveda
• Top Deck – Sunset at Cahuenga
• LA Cantina – Pico at Western

Roger’s Airport – corner of Wilshire Boulevard & Crescent Avenue (now Fairfax Avenue). Rogers Airport, operated by Rogers Aircraft, Inc., opened in 1918 as Charles Chaplin’s Chaplin Airdrome. It had a single 1,800 foot east/west dirt runway. Rogers Airport was evidently closed (for reasons unknown) at some point between 1932-40, as it was no longer depicted on a 1940 LA street map or the 1941 LA Sectional Chart.  http://wikimapia.org/8755321/Rogers-Airport-site

Rollerdrome – As listed in the ‘Los Angeles Guide, 1941’ : “11105 W. Washington Boulevard, Culver City. Eve 8 to 11pm.; Sat & Sun aft 2 to 5pm.”

Camp’s Bar (aka Roman Terrace) – 1708 Las Palmas Ave, Hollywood. Gay bar.

Romanoff’s – 325 (326?) North Rodeo Dr., Beverly Hills. Opened 19 DEC 1940 in Beverly Hills by Prince Michael Romanoff, whose real name was Harry Gerguson from Cincinnati who arrived in Hollywood in 1927. (6/167) Romanoff’s closed on NYE 1962. Bogart was one of its most famous and frequent diners. They had a strict rule that customers must wear ties, Bogart insisted on coming in tieless. Romanoff finally had a showdown with Bogart and he agreed to don a cravat. The next day Bogart and Lorre showed up sporting minute bow ties, about a half-inch long, in protest. Technically Romanoff conceded, they were in the clear. (22/261) As George Jessel once said reverently, “ A man can take his family and have a lovely 7-course meal for $3,400” (22/368) Bogart took a liking to the second booth from the left off the entryway and occupied it daily. (22/369) (40/195)Romanoff’s on North Rodeo, north of Wilshire, was the most popular restaurant for Garden of Allah residents. Owned by Mike who, when he decided to open a restaurant, asked Garden of Allah’ers Benchley, Parker, Jock Whitney and others to chip in. (1/83) In 1951 he moved to 240 S. Rodeo – south of Wilshire – to expand but it (the new location had a roof garden, ballroom for private parties, small private dining room and a much larger dining room designed to accommodate 24 equally-desirable booths was never the same because of the seating arrangements – most people wanted to be seated on the left of the staircase where there were only 4 booths. The restaurant prospered through the late 50s but it became hard to fill the room. It also didn’t help that he became ultra Republican in a Democratic community. The restaurant closed New Year’s Eve 1962. (49/53)

Gangsters tried to buy Mike out.Prince Michael Romanoff, who was born Harry Gerguson, the son of a Brooklyn tailor, had a royal record of check bouncing before we went legitimate with his Beverly Hills hashhouse. The bogus prince is highly regarded in screen circles. In a community of pretenders, he is the great pretender. He has been called a prince among fellows, and also among princes. He was once dubbed “Hollywood’s most honest phony”. For more information, see 22/368 & 369Romanoff’s, then on North Rodeo Dr., also had excellent food. It was financed by several of the Garden of Allah writers – Benchley, Dorothy Parker, John O’Hara. I was there with Scott on the opening night, and at the end of the evening there was not enough money to pay the waiters, so there was a hasty whip around for cash. (31/79)Featured orange, green and yellow wallpaper, chosen personally by Mike.Also: 41/318 & 319

Romanoff’s had a large Hollywood clientele, specialized in French cuisine and was run by a flamboyant former Chasen’s waiter, “Prince” Michael Romanoff. (48/12)

Originally the site of Mama ’s Restaurant.

Competing studio heads Darryl Zanuck and Jack Warner put up the money. Mike was known for his trademark spats, moustache and walking stick. He even spoke with an Oxford accent. The cuisine was French. (49/53)

Michael Romanoff (born Hershel Geguzin) was a Hollywood restaurateur and actor born 20 February 1890 in Lithuania. He died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California on 1 September 1971. He is perhaps best known as the owner of Romanoff’s, a Beverly Hills restaurant popular with Hollywood stars in the 40s and 50s. The restaurant closed in the 1960s. According to U.S.A Confidential (Mortimer and Lait, 1952), while Romanoff pretended to be Russian royalty, he was actually a former Brooklyn pants presser once named Harry Gerguson. His IMDb.com biography states: Mike Romanoff, the former Harry F. Gerguson, was a successful “professional impostor.” He accumulated an enormous fount of knowledge in his numerous travels and occupations around the world (and he attended, however briefly, several leading universities). When Hollywood filmmakers needed a technical adviser for a movie set in Europe, Romanoff claimed to be an expert and drew a comfortable salary. The genial Romanoff was a popular figure among the movie colony, and he opened a restaurant that was frequented by many film stars. Romanoff made few screen appearances, but he can be seen in all his fraudulent glory in Sing While You’re Able (1937). David Niven was a close friend, and in his book Bring On the Empty Horses he devotes a chapter to the colorful Romanoff. IMDb.com also notes that Geguzin immigrated to New York City at age ten, changed his name to Harry F. Gerguson some time after 1900, and married Gloria Lister in 1948.Finally, IMDb.com further explains that Romanoff “Claimed to have been born Prince Michael Dimitri Alexandrovich Obolensky-Romanoff, nephew of Tsar Nicholas II. Everyone in Hollywood knew he wasn’t, but, in a town full of pretenders, it hardly mattered, and “Prince Michael” enjoyed great success as a restaurateur.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Romanoff

The New Yorker ran a series of four Profile articles starting Oct 29, 1932 that traces his history from birth until date of publication. He was deported to France to serve time for fraud.

http://www.filmsofthegoldenage.com/foga/1996/winter/hollywoodhotspots.shtml says Romanoff’s was the namesake of one of the world’s greatest imposters. In 1937, a Lithuanian immigrant named Harry Gerguson arrived in Hollywood and began passing himself off as Prince Michael Romanoff, cousin to the late Czar of Russia. With his Old World manners and impeccable Oxford accent, this ebullient con man charmed his way into Tinseltown society and became much sought after for fancy soirees and polo matches. The studios even paid him a royal sum to act as technical advisor on films with Russian locales. Everyone was in on the gag, of course; they let him get away with it because they loved having a man of such bottomless chutzpah around.
When His Imperial Highness decided to open a restaurant in Beverly Hills, Cary Grant, Darryl Zanuck, Jack Warner, Joseph Schenck, Jock Whitney, Caesar Romero, and Robert Benchley were among those who provided financial backing. Romanoff’s opened to capacity crowds in 1941, and within a year Prince Mike was able to buy out all the investors. On top of it all he had become an international celebrity, with Life magazine dubbing him “the most wonderful liar” in 20th Century America.
The Prince may have been a phoney, but he did have excellent taste. The French cuisine at Romanoff’s was the finest in the city; it drew all the local gourmands, who tolerated Mike’s insults and his habit of having his bulldogs dine with him at his table. Bogart, when he wasn’t working, ate lunch here every day, and a bronze plaque bearing his name hung above his favorite booth; other choice booths were staked out by Zanuck, Louis B. Mayer, and Harry Cohn. Gable, Cooper, Sinatra, Lana Turner, Groucho Marx, Jack Benny, Herbert Marshall, Sir Cedric Hardwick, Clifton Webb, Robert Morley, Cole Porter, Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, and Otto Preminger were all regulars.
In 1951, Romanoff’s relocated to larger quarters on 140 S. Rodeo Drive, where there was a roof garden, a ballroom, and a VIP lounge. Devotees like Paul Henreid felt the restaurant’s culinary standards got lost in the move, and as the ’50s progressed, Romanoff’s began to slip in popularity. Mike remained as imperious as ever, but a new generation of Hollywood talent wasn’t impressed with the old rogue who, among other things, had become a very vocal ultra-conservative. Even his most loyal patrons were offended by his friendship with J. Edgar Hoover and his handing out right-wing literature along with the menus.
Mike’s political views may have cost him business, but they helped him achieve his goal. In 1958, he was made a U.S. Citizen by an act of Congress signed by President Eisenhower. Mike closed Romanoff’s on New Year’s Eve, 1962, and spent the rest of his life in retirement. He died at 78 in 1971.

Rollerdome – huge venue in Culver City catering to the 1937 new fad of rollerskating. (40/157)

Room at the Top – corner Sunset and Vine, on top of a skyscraper.

Roos Bros. –  6320 Hollywood Blvd., near Vine. Opened 1929 as the new location for one of California’s largest clothing retailers, est. 1865. In 1957 Roos merged with Robert Atkins to become Roos/Atkins, stayed in business 30 more years, closed in the 1990s.

Rounders – a bar near Earl Carroll’s (p197/136)

The Roundhouse Café – 250 N. Virgil, conveniently close to the Bimini Baths. A roundhouse is a locomotive maintenance shed built around a turntable hence the rather realistic locomotive sticking out the side there.

Roos Brothers – Upscale clothing store at 6320 Hollywood Blvd just east of Vine St. (Telephone Hollywood-4114.) Opened in the1920s and into the 1930s. In a later incarnation, it became the second Newberry five-and-dime located in Hollywood.

Rosslyn Hotel – 121 West 4^th St, Los Angeles, 13

Rosslyn Valet Shop Ph MA-8483, MI-3311

The Rosslyn Hotel (1914) and its annex (1923) across the street were built, owned, and operated by the entrepreneurial Hart brothers, whose name is represented by the iconic heart-shaped sign on the roof. They both started their careers in hospitality as bellhops at the Old Natick House in the center of downtown Los Angeles, and they later managed the property with their father after he purchased it.

The New Rosslyn Hotel, as it was originally named, was built next to an older hotel called the Rosslyn, for the staggering sum of one million dollars (hence the signage, Million Dollar Hotel). The annex was constructed across the street nine years later. Its luxurious décor and amenities (such as ice water from the tap and ventilated phone booths) were worthy of a grand hotel, while its prices made it affordable to the average traveler.

At one time it was the largest hotel on the Pacific Coast, with 1,100 rooms and 800 baths between the two structures.

The Rotisserie– 8690 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills – Phone: CRestview 6-0343
Sunset Blvd, west of Vine, Hollywood – Phone: GRanite 4075
Oval dining room, Coffee shop – fountain, Cocktail lounge, Pastry and delicatessen, Tropical Rooms for banquets and private parties

Royal Room – 6700 Hollywood Blvd, southwest corner of Las Palmas Ave, Hollywood. A jazz club, opened circa late 1940s and closed after a fire destroyed it on December 6, 1957. Its two exterior walls featured complex neon signage. By the late 1950s it was called The Royal Scot.

Ruby Foo’s – 6666 Sunset Blvd. Formerly Billy Wilkerson’s Vendome Café.

The Rotisserie – 8690 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills
Phone: CRestview 6-0343
and
Sunset Blvd, west of Vine, Hollywood
Phone: GRanite 4075

– Oval dining room
– Coffee shop – fountain
– Cocktail lounge
– Pastry and delicatessen
– Tropical Rooms for banquets and private parties

Russian Eagle Café – Originally at at 8428 Sunset in Sunset Plaza. Sheila Weller: “Opium had been smoked in the back room. John Barrymore, Ramon Navarro, and Russian femme fatale Alla Nazimova had hidden out in the club from photographers. The Eagle’s owners were Russian emigres with raging tempers. One night the pair fought noisily — one was romancing the other’s wife. The cuckolded partner came back in the dead of night and set fire to the club. Flames shot up against the mountain, loosening a wooden footbridge, threatening an avalanche, and reducing the club to embers. (Nazimova kept her memories of that night close to her vest; she had turned her nearby mansion into a hotel — the Garden of Allah bungalows. There, she played hostess to the likes of John O’Hara, Robert Benchley, and William Faulkner, when movie work brought those writers westward.)”

The cafe burned to the ground on the night of June 6, 1928 and it moved to the Hollywood Plaza Hotel at 1633-37 N. Vine St.

General Theodor Lodijensky presided over the establishment, and Greta Garbo among it’s frequent visitors.

http://www.vialarp.org/vacation/b_blvd_sex_n_death.htm  says, “The left side lobby of the Plaza Hotel was the Russian Eagle Cafe & Gardens in the 30s. Garbo was a regular and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. first tried Cocaine in the restroom. In 1943, Clara Bow opened her “It” Cafe in the same space.”

A group of Russians left the Sunset Strip after their roadhouse burned down. They moved to the Hollywood Plaza Hotel ballroom where their Russian Eagle did better than it had on the Strip. The waiters wore fezzes. The doorman was a a former Cossack cavalryman. The cashier was Princess Xenia Shadhowskoya who also snag sad songs out front. Garbo loved to eat caviar in a dark corner. Dietrich visited often too. When the movie magazines reported this, the Russian Eagle became a hot spot for a while.

When the Russian Eagle closed in 1935, it reopened as the Cinnabar. (p230/113) – then later Clara Bow’s It Cafe which later became Phil Selznick’s It Cafe.

Time Magazine – June 18, 1928 – “Charles Spencer Chaplin, funnyman, picked up a garden hose, squirted it. He was serious. He was helping to fight a fire at the American-Russian Eagle Club in Hollywood, Calif. His efforts were stopped when an explosion of leaking gas wrecked the building and injured eight people. Among those present and unhurt were Jack Dempsey & wife (Estelle Taylor), Richard Dix, Renee Adoree, John McCormick & wife (Colleen Moore), Marquis de la Falaise (husband of Gloria Swanson). The owner of the nightclub, Theodore Lodiginsky, 56, onetime Russian general, was seriously injured.”

Sahara Room – at Garden of Allah Hotel, 8152 Sunset Boulevard. http://blackdahlia1946.blogspot.com/2007/01/hollywood-19591963_22.html

Sam’s Columbia Grill, 1446 N. Gower St, Hollywood. Phone HUdson 2-7986

Santa Monica Beach Club, Biltmore Health Club, Roosevelt Highway, Pacific Palisades, 1920 & 30s

Santessus Club – downtown L.A. gay and/or lesbian club

Saratoga Restaurant – 7953 Sunset Strip Phone OL-6-2960 http://blackdahlia1946.blogspot.com/2007/01/hollywood-19591963_22.html

Sardi’s – 6315 Hollywood Boulevard, near Vine St. Ultra-chic place opened 1932 by the Montmartre’s Eddie Bandstatter. (40/66) Sardi’s Restaurant was destroyed in a fire 11-2-1936.  Bandstatter also owned The Embassy Club, Lindy’s Restaurant, and The Sunset Inn. In 1934, he was again convicted for illegally selling “stimulants” at Sardi’s.  Eddie Brandstatter’s troubled existence ended when he died on January 20, 1940 by suicide (carbon monoxide poisoning in his car) at age 54. He was found dead by his wife Helen at their home garage in Sherman Oaks. He had a Jewish funeral at Forest Lawn.  Hedda Hopper lauded him as a man who had befriended the stars in their lean years. A sad figure who should be remembered for his many positive contributions to early Hollywood. http://www.latimemachines.com/new_page_23.htm

In the 1920s, was originally called Henry’s Café and run by a Charlie Chaplin stock player called Henry Bergman. (61/75). In the 1950s it became Zardi’s Jazzland. In 1965. It became The Haunted House.

As listed in the ‘Los Angeles Guide, 1941’ : “Covey’s Sardi’s 6315 Hollywood Boulevard. Features are the amply laden hors d’oeuvres cart, the Kansas City roast beef and steaks, and the boneless squab chicken with wild rice.

Satyr Book Shop – 1620 (or 1622) Vine St., Hollywood, next to the Vine St Brown Derby. The bookshop opened (I think) in 1926, and was originally co-owned by Stanley Rose; this photo dates from sometime in the 1930s. http://www.readinkbooks.com/home/satyrbookshop.htm

The above photo shows that the Satyr must have moved to the corner of Hollywood and Vine by the 1950s.

Savoy Shirt Shop – 8470 Melrose Ave – The clothing store that made custom-made shirts was owned by gangster brothers Fred and Joe Sica and was a front for a giant wholesale narcotics business. (115/p86)

Scam Restaurant – Moroccan-themed restaurant located in the 900 building on Sunset Strip.

Schabers Cafeteria, 620 S. Broadway. Opened 1928, closed 1947. Shown here in 1940

Side Show – Hollywood Boulevard, south side, a block west of Highland Ave

Slate Brothers – Sunset Strip 1950s nightclub (17/95)

Scandia– 9131 Sunset Boulevard. Opened 1946 by natives of Copenhagen. In 1957 moved across the street to 9040 Sunset where walls were decorated with coats of arms. Original owners sold it in 1978 and it closed in 1989. Hungarian born Peter Lorre ate there every Saturday. (49/61)

Schwab’s Pharmacy – 8024 Sunset Boulevard. Opened 1932 (49/39) The pharmacy was torn down in 1988 to make room for a block-long shopping complex now anchored by Virgin Records. http://www.travellady.com/articles/article-sunsetstrip.html

An historical footnote: Ironically, the new Virgin Megastore sat on the same spot where the legendary Schwab’s Pharmacy once stood. In the movie “Sunset Blvd,” William Holden‘s character calls Schwab’s Drug Store “headquarters; a combination office, coffee klatch, and waiting room” for Hollywood writers.  And so it was.  F. Scott Fitzgerald(author of “The Great Gatsby“) had a heart attack here in 1940, while buying a pack of cigarettes. Songwriter Harold Arlin wrote “Over the Rainbow” (from “The Wizard of Oz“) by the light of the Schwab’s neon sign.Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd used to play pinball in the back room. And the rumor still persists that Lana Turner was discovered at Schwab’s, but it isn’t true (see the article on Hollywood High for the real story). Alas, Schwab’s was closed in 1986, and replaced by the Virgin Megastore a decade later. http://www.seeing-stars.com/Streets/SunsetStrip.shtml

See also: 22/378 & 379, re Sidney Skolsky and Schwab’s competition with Beverly Wilshire drugstore, and Turner’s on the Sunset Strip. Turner’s would deliver money as well as pills and potions. (22/380)

Schwab’s was on the corner of Sunset and Crescent Heights – a 2-minute walk from Garden of Allah. They sold popular Bavarian chocolate mint bars. Billy Phipps was the delivery boy. Dr. Frank Nolan had an office over Schwab’s who treated some of the monstrous hangovers at Garden of Allah. (1/84) Once Ava Gardner came over – she wanted to make herself an ice cream soda. Soon she was making them for everyone.

Brothers Leon, Bernard, Martin & Jack, all pharmacists, owned at one time 6 family drug stores around town. The first was on 6^th Street, downtown. Schwab’s was a social leveler in the 30s and 40s. Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, Ida Lupino, Mickey Rooney, Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Clark Gable, Orson Welles, and the Marx and Ritz brothers ate eggs and onions, lox and bagels at breakfast or steaks at dinner alongside agents, columnists, bit players and nobodies hoping to become somebodies. A sign near the counter reading “Coffee 40 cents per cup. Maximum 30 minutes,” was largely ignored. (49/39)

AKA “The Poor Man’s Country Club (57)

See also 61/35
http://www.povonline.com/larestaurants/larestaurants09.htm During Breakfast hours, it was practically like a club — the same folks at the same tables.  When Schwab’s closed down in 1983, that group began drifting from restaurant to restaurant, never managing to find a venue that was as good and actor-friendly.  In the meantime, the old Schwab’s location was torn down, replaced by a shopping center built around a Virgin Megastore.  Also demolished to make way for that complex was Harry’s Wood-Pit Barbecue.  The Virgin is a nice place but I’d much rather have Schwab’s and Harry’s.

Jacob Schwab first showed up in the 1926 phone book as manager for Court Drug Company. In the 1927 phone book, he’s listed at 3851 W. 6^th Street in downtown LA.

Schwab’s Pharmacies were at

1. 8024 Sunset Blvd
2. 9061 Santa Monica Beach
3. 401 N. Bedford Dr, Beverly Hills (Marilyn Monroe)
4. 430 N. Roxbury Dr, Beverly Hills
5. 6255 Hollywood Blvd
6. 317 N. Robertson Blvd (office?)

See also http://laist.com/2009/03/21/laistory_schwabs.php

(Ray Haller’s 7 Seas) Seven Seas – 6904 Hollywood Boulevard, just west of Highland, putting it opposite Grauman’s. Opened mid-1930s. Hawaiian bistro where Bing Crosby often performed. (57/113) (61/75) “There was the Seven Seas for dancing. The interior was all like Hawaii with Hawaiian dancers. You’d think you were on the main island. It was just incredible. (66/289) The sign for this place in the rear (near the El Capitan parking lot) lasted up until very recently.  Water pouring on the roof gave the sound effect of a South Seas downpour. Hawaiian band and dancers.

http://www.hpoliver.com/FEATURES/RITZ/ritz_017/index.html

Bob Brooks took it over from Ray Haller a few years later.

http://blackdahlia1946.blogspot.com/2007/01/hollywood-19591963_22.html calls it Bob Brook’s 7 Seas and gives the phone number as GL-6761

Under new ownership in the 1960s, the popular night spot became the Seven Seas Supper Club. By the 1970s, however, the 7 Seas was declining into nothing more than a seedy bar.

“L.A. in Maps” lists it as one of THE major places in Hollywood

As listed in the ‘Los Angeles Guide, 1941’ : “Seven Seas Café – 6904 Hollywood Boulevard. Dinner from 6pm. No couvert. Hawaiian orchestra and entertainers, dressed in native costumes. Floor shows 11pm, and 12pm and 2am. Bar. Dancing from 8.30pm. Hawaiian Island atmosphere, complete with “rain on the roof.”

A number of photos can be found here: http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=30531&forum=2

The Shack, 1046 Cole Ave, Hollywood

Shafer’s (men’s clothing store) – 6367 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood, Circa 1920s

Sheri’s Restaurant and coffee shop

• 11408 Santa Monica Blvd at Perdue, West Los Angeles
• 5465 Santa Monica Blvd, at Western, Hollywood
• 115 S. La Brea Ave, Inglewood
• 601 Fair Oaks, South Pasadena
• 201 W. Main St, Alhambra

Scully’s Restaurant – 4801 Crenshaw Blvd, Los Angeles

Sewers of Paris – 1608 Cosmo Street, Hollywood, on the former location of Jimmy’s Backyard.

Sherry’s Restaurant – In the 1940s a place called Sherry’s Restaurant stood where the Key Club is today. Mickey Cohen, who was known once as Bugsy Siegel’s right-hand man, was shot there in 1948. His favorite booth was #12. (115/2) http://www.thesunsetstrip.com/info/history

Was previously Cafe La Maze

http://www.filmsofthegoldenage.com/foga/1996/winter/hollywoodhotspots.shtml says During the ’40s Sherry’s was popular with L.A.’s mafia element. In 1949, rackateer Mickey Cohen was gunned down here after a late dinner. Cohen survived the ambush, but the mob chose to dine elsewhere after that. Sherry’s later became the famous rock club Gazzari’s, whose proprietor, the cigar-chomping Bill Gazzari, billed himself as “The Godfather of Rock ‘N Roll.” The building was demolished in 1994.

• Café Roxy from 19?? to 1935
• Cafe La Maze from 1935 to 1943
• Dave’s Blue Room from 1943 to 1948
• Sherry’s from 1948 to 1949(?)
• The Deauville 1950 to 19??

Ship’s Coffee Shop — There were three — one in Westwood and one in Culver City, but everyone’s favorite was the one at Olympic and La Cienega.  It was open 24 hours and it wasn’t Denny’s.  If you ordered breakfast, they brought you bread instead of toast and you cooked it yourself in the toaster at your table. Every table had one, plus they were all along the counter for the folks sitting there. It was another great place to get a hot turkey sandwich and I remember that a friend of mine liked to go there because they had “the coldest milk in the world.”  The waitresses were all what you’d get if you put out a casting call for “friendly coffee shop waitresses.” All three Ship’s Coffee shops were opened by restaurateur Emmett Shipman between 1956 and 1967 and closed in the eighties.  They were noted for their decor and the one at Olympic and La Cienega was used as a location in several movies.  They may be among the “most missed” defunct eateries in all of Southern California. http://www.povonline.com/larestaurants/larestaurants01.htm
For sample menu, see http://www.povonline.com/images14/shipsmenu.jpg

Shrine Roller Rink – As listed in the ‘Los Angeles Guide, 1941’ : “700 W. 32rd Street. Aft. 2 to 5pm; eve 8 to 11pm.”

Silver’s Style Shop, 3732 Wilshire Boulevard. Clothing store.

Silverwoods Men’s clothing– 6555 Hollywood Boulevard. (Also on Sunset Blvd)

Simon’s Drive-In – at the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax, an Art Deco mirage of glass and neon served by carhops, a new variation of the American Girl, a cross between a waitress, an usherette and a starlet, who emerged as a protagonist in the new relationship between the restaurant and the automobile. In the 1930s and 40s, they had over 20 locations in and around Los Angeles.

Simon’s, 2836 Sunset Boulevard. “Inflation fighter restaurant. An unexpected dining experience.

Sky Room at Union Air Terminal, Burbank (later Burbank Airport aka Bob Hope Airport) “Famous for Sea Food”

Slapsie Maxie’s – 5665 Wilshire Boulevard. Previously the Wilshire Bowl which was helped made popular with film folk by popular bandleader Phil Harris. Opened as Slapsie Maxie’s by prizefighter Max Rosenbloom. Frequented by Hollywood’s underground, including Mickey Cohen. (61/70) Slapsie Maxie’s was famous for comedy revues, aka “Laughing Spot of California” (76/94)

http://blackdahlia1946.blogspot.com/2007/01/hollywood-19591963_22.html says that it was at 7165 Beverly Boulevard.

As listed in the ‘Los Angeles Guide, 1941’ : Slapsy Maxie Rosenbloom’s Café. 7165 Beverly Boulevard. Dinner from 6pm. No couvert. Orchestra, but no dancing by patrons. Three of four funny floorshows nightly, with Deadpan Maxie in the middle of things.

Slim Gordon’s – 6721 Hollywood Boulevard, opposite the Egyptian Theater. Gay bar. The military would post a sign at this place, and every other place they suspected drew a gay crowd, that said “Out of bounds to military personnel.” (60/73)

Smith Bros. Fish Shanty — Located at the intersection of La Cienega Boulevard, San Vicente Boulevard and Burton Way, the Fish Shanty was known to Los Angeles residents as “that place where you walk in through the whale’s mouth.” … like Pinocchio. http://www.povonline.com/larestaurants/larestaurants03.htm

Smitty’s – along with The Gay Inn and the Gayway Café – Downtown gay venues. The military would post a sign at this place, and every other place they suspected drew a gay crowd, that said “Out of bounds to military personnel.” (60/73)

Smoke House – 4420 W Lakeside Dr, Burbank, across from Warner Bros. Since 1946 steaks and chops and good martinis to the valley film community. Hanna & Barbera were frequent patrons.

Sneeky Pete’s on 3907 Sunset Blvd on the Sunset Strip. It used to be the Unicorn Coffee House, which closed in 1966 and became Sneeky Pete’s

Snow White Waffle Shop – 6769 Hollywood Blvd. http://www.theblackdahliainhollywood.com/?p=65

Solomon’s Penny Dance DeLuxe – Grand Ave at 9^th Street, downtown L.A. – Phone Tucker 3844
“Where you get a dollar’s worth for a dime.”
“The Ninth Wonder of the World.”
“The largest manufacturer and distribution of Pleasure on Earth.”

 

Sorrentino’s Seafood House – corner of Pass Avenue and Riverside in Burbank. It was one of several Southland restaurants owned and operated by members of the Sorrentino family. A few blocks away was the more upscale Alfonse’s, run by the famous chef, Alfonse Sorrentino. The seafood restaurant was reportedly run by two of his cousins.

Sorrento Beach Club, Formerly The Gables Beach Club – “Where Wilshire meets the sea” – 808 Ocean Front, Santa Monica, Phone: 27290

Speak 39 – on Cahuenga on the north side. Gay bar.

(15/123) Speakeasies:

• Doo Doo Inn
• The Kit Kat Club
• Monkey Farm
• Hoosegow
• Club Royale
• Harlow’s Café
• The Sneak Inn
• 13 story art deco building on the corner of Beverly bvld and Virgil Ave was a storage facility for the American Storage Company, built in 1928. A celestial-themed speakeasy – where waiters sported “make-believe wings” commanded the top floor until the end of Prohibition.

Sphinx Club, 8477 & 8572 Sunset – In a previous incarnation the Clover Club was known as the Sphinx Club.
Jon Ponder said: Sphinx moved three times. It was also out on the west end, near the Beverly Hills line. That venue was briefly Felix Young’s Little Troc, which is where Lena Horne made her Hollywood debut, and thus was officially discovered — in the first full month of the war, January 1942. The gambling was upstairs — hidden in plain sight. Downstairs was likely a normal nightclub. Like at the Troc, there was a nightclub with dining and entertainment upstairs and the gambling was downstairs in the below-grade floor that opened onto the parking lot in the back. There was also a bar downstairs that was separate from the gambling. . . . In 1951, 8572 Sunset was a late iteration of the Sphinx Club. (It had been in three or more other locations, including the site of the Clover Club.) Starting at least in 1953 it was the Crescendo with a club upstairs called the Interlude. Later it was the Trip operated by Elmer Valentine, with the Interlude comedy club upstairs.

Southern Pacific Company Ticket Office – 6553 Hollywood Blvd. http://www.theblackdahliainhollywood.com/?p=65

SS Friendship – Lesbian hang out (possibly near MacArthur Park, known back then as Westlake Park) (59/96)

Stanley Rose Bookshop – Hollywood Boulevard, right next to Musso & Frank’s (now M&F’s east diningroom), was favored by the higher-paid, less political writers. The principal activity at Stanley Rose’s was drinking, and the back room was filled with couches occupied by such legendary Hollywood drinkers as Gene Fowler, Horace McCoy and William Faulker…The shop had a club, called the Book of the Day Club, which sponsored monthly lectures by writers such as Christopher Isherwood, Aldous Huxley and Bennett Cerf. Sometimes as many as 100 people would crowd into the little back room. (72/117) http://www.readinkbooks.com/home/stanleyrosenewpage.htm

Stanley Rose, a hard-drinking tough type from Texas, was on the smaller end (of bootlegging.) Rose ran a book shop on Vine St, just south of Hollywood Boulevard, even though he didn’t particularly like books. He had not learned to read until injured in WWI. In his book shop, he stashed cases of liquor smuggled from Mexico or offshore ships. The books were used to hid the booze that Rose personally delivered to the studios. Rose eventually developed an impeccable state in literature. (p196/113)

Starlit Room – 8950 Sunset Boulevard. Opened in 1945 and featured cross dressing acts; Rae Bourbon, a very popular act at Chez Boheme (which was a previous incarnation of the Starlit Room) played there too for a while.

Stan’s Drive-In restaurant: 2902 Sunset Blvd, 6760 Sunset Blvd, 4480 Sunset Blvd, 9156 Sunset Blvd, 2700 E. Olympic Blvd, 5 S. Pasadena Ave, Pasadena, 9735 Wilshire Blvd, 9402 Wilshire Blvd, 3801 Wilshire Blvd, 3607 S. Figueroa, 233 W. Washington Blv, 4501 E. Florence Ave, Bell, 5201 Whittier Blvd.

The Star Room – lesbian venue (60/89 & 97)

Stark’s – 5658 Wilshire Blvd, at Hauser Telephone WYoming 0603

(Orrin Tucker’s) Stardust Ballroom – 5612 Sunset Boulevard, at Hollywood Freeway

Solly’s, 38 N La Cienega, Los Angeles. Salvatore Santanella.

Stefanino’s – 9229 Sunset Boulevard, Owned by Steve Crane (& Associates) of Luau and Lana Turner fame.

Stillwell Cafeteria – 633 S. Main St, downtown Los Angeles, nearly opposite Pacific Electric depot.

Sternberger’s Rite Spot – 776 North Vine Street, Hollywood. “Since 1919” into at least the 1940s

Streets of Paris – 6724 Hollywood Boulevard. (1940s) A live music venue with a saloon in the basement. (82/55) 115/p220 says that Mickey Cohen hosted a wedding breakfast for Lana Turner and Steve Crane at the Streets of Paris, a Hollywood Boulevard restaurant he held an interest in.

Studio Bowling Academy – 1953 South Vermont Ave, Los Angeles

The Sugar Bowl – 1940s & 1950s, on Wilshire and was owned by Arthur Lake (Dagwood in the Blondie series) and Stanley Rose’s brother, (The Stanley Rose Bookstore) Olin Rose. (Askville)

Sunset Bowling Center – 5842 Sunset Blvd, Hollywood. “Situated on the Warner Bros. Sunset Lot where the first talking picture in Hollywood was made.”

Sutton’s Club Lido, at Pico Blvd and Western Ave.

Scrivner’s Drive In – locations:

• 3060 Crenshaw
• 3425 W. Manchester
• Imperial at Western
• 4180 Wilshire Blvd
• Sunset at Crenshaw
• 5821 S. Western
• 3101 S. Western (“Red Hut Broiler”)
• Imperial at Anza
• 174th and Western
• Crenshaw at Rosecrans (“The New Henry’s”

Sugar Hill Club, Vine St, Hollywood – 1940s

Sunset Gardens – A discreet whorehouse near Sunset Boulevard (50s?) (Vanity Fair, March 2009)

Sunset House – mens haberdasher owned by Billy Wilkerson of the Hollywood Reporter. 6717 Sunset Blvd, between the Hollywood Reporter offices and the Tip Top Cafe where he discovered Lana Turner. Billy Wilkerson Jr said: “By day, the gangster [Bugsy Siegel] was also a regular at Wilkerson’s Sunset House, the barbershop and haberdashery where he enjoyed close personal ties with the shop’s main barber, Harry Drucker. Drucker always made sure that Siegel got the best shave, facial, haircut and manicure of the day.” It appears Billy Wilkerson had sold it by Jan 3, 1938 to someone named Ben Bail.

Sunset House, 5539 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood California – Cocktails – Steak – Chicken – Dinners

Sunset Inn – Baron Long started the Sunset Inn (formerly the Nat Goodwin Café), along with Paul Schenck, but lost his liquor license in 1917 in the battle to make Santa Monica “dry” and apparently had to sell it to Mike Lyman and Eddie Brandstatter. The Sunset Inn was first located at Ocean Ave and Colorado Street and then moved to the Crystal Pier. Baron Long then teamed up with Julius Rosenfield in 1917 to purchase the Ship Café in Venice.

The Susie Q – 6700 Hollywood Blvd – “Dinner and Dancing”

Swally’s Restaurant, Boyle and Olympic Avenues, Los Angeles. Phone Angelus 8-6554(?) Banquet Hall, Key Club, Coffee Shop, Cocktails. Swally’s For Steaks

Sunset Colonial Inn, 8351 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles 46, California.

Switzerland Restaurant and cocktail lounge – 4057 S. Figueroa St, Los Angeles, 37. Phone ADams 2-9292. “Entertainment and dining in authentic Swiss atmosphere.

Swiss Chalet – 2201 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica

Swanee Inn – 133 N. La Brea Blvd, Los Angeles “Harlem in Hollywood”

 

Swing Club – 1710 N. Las Palmas Ave, Hollywood. Dinner & Dancing

833 South Spring Street was built in 1924 as the headquarters of the City Club, a Los Angeles civic organization with a membership of 2500 leaders of business, industry, and finance. But after less than 10 years, the City Club was gone. For the next 60 years it was home to numerous taxi-dancehalls. It was the Roseland Roof, circa 1939, then became the 41 Club, The Swanky, and the 833 Club.

Tabu of Hollywood – 7290 Sunset Boulevard. Phone HOllywood 1016 (nightclub)

Tahiti – 327 Broadway, Santa Monica

The Tahitian, 12010 Ventura Blvd, Studio City. Phone: PO 9-0674 & TR 7-0531

Taix French Restaurant – 321 Commercial St. Sunday and Thursday chicken dinner. Excellent food served family style. The atmosphere is congenial and informal.

Tam-O-Shanter restaurant – 2980 Los Feliz Blvd – formerly Montgomery’s Chanticleer Inn. Established in 1922 by Lawrence Frank and Walter Van de Kamp, founders of Van de Kamp’s Holland Dutch Bakeries who went on to found the Lawry’s restaurant chain.

Chas Tartaglia Brothers tailors, 508 W. 6th Street Los Angeles, Phone 14948 – “Established 1907. Six bothers, six reasons: Charles, Joe, Michael, John, Angelo, Otto”

Tate and Puls Clothing – 6525 Pacific Blvd,  Huntington Park – Opened 1932. “The style-wise man will find all of his needs supplied at Tate and Puls, and a visit will convince him that here is the place to secure the latest in men’s overcoats and suits.”

The 90-90 Club – “Where the number and the name are both the same, to-wit.” – 9090 W. Washington Boulevard, Culver City, California

The Trails – 6501 South Sepulveda Blvd – Phone Orchard 1-1622 & Orchard 7-79749 – “The Pleasure Palace of Southern California” – Owned by Esther Williams and her husband Ben Gage

Temptation Time Cocktail Cafe, Los Angeles
8111 W. Pico Blvd
6^th Street & Kenmore
2401 S. Hoover at 24^th Street

Tail o’ the Cock Tail Restaurant – 44 S. La Cienega Boulevard, aka “Restaurant Row.”  There was another at 12950 Ventura Boulevard in the valley — both popular dinner joints famous for their America menus (steak, prime rib, etc.) and bar scene.

The Tahitian, 12010 Ventura Blvd, Studio City

The Tamale Restaurant, 6421 Whittier Blvd., East L.A., 1920s

Tam O’ Shanter –

Tam O’ Shanter – 2980 Los Feliz Boulevard. Opened on June 26, 1922 as the Montgomery Country Inn at 4050 Tropico Blvd (which was later renamed Los Feliz Blvd) but changed its name soon after. Early customers were Mary Pickford, Tom Mix and John Wayne. (61/77)

Taylor’s Steakhouse – In 1953, “Tex” and Margie Taylor bought O’Kelley’s Tavern on the corner of Olympic Blvd. and Western Ave., just west of downtown Los Angeles.  What began as Taylor’s Tavern, the “Biggest Little Bar in Los Angeles” soon grew to become Taylor’s Steak House.

Technicolor lab – 6311 Romaine St (67/67)

Tess’s Café Internationale – Lesbian nightclub on Sunset Boulevard (60/47 & 87)

Tilford’s Restaurant and cocktail lounge, located at the northwest corner of La Brea Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard. Opened in 1949.

Tiny Naylors – started 1949
14 N. La Cienega at Wilshire
3037 Wilshire at Virgil
245 Rosemead at Foothill, Pasadena
12056 Ventura at Laurel Canyon, Studio City
8540 S. Sepulveda at Manchester, Westchester
8620 S. Western at Manchester – with cocktail lounge
All locations open 24 hours

Tips on Wilshire. “Thick steaks, thin pancakes.”

Tony Roma’s Place, 9404 Brighton Way, Beverly Hills

Tony’s Nightmare Café – 6300 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, Phone: PL-39275

The Tropics – 427 North Rodeo. The Luau was formerly Sugie’s Original “The Tropics” restaurant and club. “The Tropics” was opened by Harry “Sugie” Sugarman in Beverly Hills in 1936. This was one of the earliest of the Pre-Polynesian places that catered to the motion picture industry. 115/p74 says that Mickey Cohen-era gangster Jimmy Utley own The Tropics (1940s). The Tropics was purchased by Steven Crane and turned into The Luau in 1953. http://on.fb.me/Hqyl00

The Hollywood Tropics, 1525 N. Vine St. “So atmospheric you feel the rainy season coming on.”

The Toad in the Hole – 6160 Hollywood Boulevard, a fave with Hollywood socialites

Toed Inn Café – First located on Channel Road in Santa Monica and was not enclosed. The Toed Inn was damaged at the Santa Monica location in the great floods of 1938 and later moved to 12008 Wilshire Blvd and enclosed. This photo is of the Wilshire location.

Toff’s coffee shop, 6901 Hollywood Blvd, corner of Orchid Ave, next to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, opened mid 1950s and 60s

Thelma Todd’s Sidewalk Café – 17535 Roosevelt Highway (now known as Pacific Coast Highway (PCH)) Opened in 1934 by movie star Thelma Todd (aka ‘The Ice Cream Girl’) until her mysterious death on 16DEC1935 (4/58) http://nfo.net/usa/niteclub.htm (40/139) http://wikimapia.org/6556973/Thelma-Todd-s-Sidewalk-Cafe-Historical-Site

The Thistle Café– 606 San Vicente Boulevard http://www.armchair.com/warp/la30c.html#brown

Tick Tock Tea Room – 1716 North Cahuenga Ave. Opened in 1930, by Norwegian Arthur Johnson and wife Helen. Closed 1988. On the day they opened for business, they installed an old clock, a family treasure on the wall; hence the name. The final tally was 48 clocks plus the neon one out front.

The Tick Tock was a well-liked restaurant serving heaping portions of comfort food to the aspiring actors and studio craftspeople who could afford to dine in the city’s tonier restaurants. In the 30s and 40s the restaurant was popular for it’s 3-course dinners; in those days the Tick Tock served 2000 people a day. Only complete dinners were available, and came complete with a basket of beloved Sticky Orange Rolls, sweet enough to be desert. Dinners were usually canned fruit cocktail or tomato juice, sherbert, meat loaf, fried chicken, fried beef liver and onions with some sort of homemade pie or cake for dessert. (49/29)

http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result.php?q1=1716+North+Cahuenga+Ave.%2C+hollywood+ca

Tiny Naylor’s Drive In Restaurant – Sunset and Vine. http://www.losanjealous.com/2005/12/15/cal-worthington/ http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics28/00063830.jpg

Drive-in restaurants stood on Sunset Boulevard’s major corners. After school, Hollywood High students went to Tiny Naylor’s at Sunset and La Brea Ave. (p309/113)

Trianon Ballroom, in South Gate. A popular night spot of the 1940s and the site of several live remote broadcasts of a music show called One Night Stand produced by the Armed Forces Radio Service during WWII. http://cinematreasures.org/theater/7301/ (82/52)

Top Hat Café – on the Southeast corner of N. McCadden Place and Sunset – where Wilkerson discovered Lana Turner.

Tom Bergin’s was founded by its namesake, a 46-year-old lawyer, in 1936. The establishment was originally located at 6110 Wilshire Boulevard and named the “Old Horseshoe Tavern and Thoroughbred Club” in honor of a Boston-area watering hole owned by Bergin’s uncle.  In 1949, Bergin built a new eatery, re-named Tom Bergin’s Horseshoe Tavern, at 840 South Fairfax Avenue. Employees and customers alike carried the pub’s legendary horseshoe-shaped bar three blocks south to its new home.

Tom Breneman’s– Vine St, near Sunset. Phone HOllywood-3577. Next to NBC and ABS radio stations. Became famous when Breneman started hosting his “Breakfast in Hollywood” radio show which aired on the Blue Network from 1941 to 1948. It ended with Breneman’s untimely death. http://hollywood.libsyn.com/ (61/74) http://blackdahlia1946.blogspot.com/2007/01/hollywood-19591963_22.html , http://www.you-are-here.com/sunset/schwabs.html

The Town House – 639 S. Commonwealth Ave. A large hotel property built in 1929 on Wilshire Boulevard adjacent to Lafayette Park in Los Angeles, California. Designed by Norman W. Alpaugh, the building was once among the most luxurious hotels in Southern California. Equally popular and well-known was its Zebra Room. Conrad Hilton bought the Town House in 1942 so when Elizabeth Taylor married his son Nicky in 1950, they celebrated at the hotel in 1950. It was sold to Sheraton in 1954and became the Sheraton-Town House.

The Zebra Room was a nightclub. The Cape Cod Room was the hotel’s coffee shop and lasted until 1993. The hotel’s main restaurant was the Garden Room.

As listed in the ‘Los Angeles Guide, 1941’ : “The Zebra Room is frequented by the young set. A more conservative atmosphere is in the Wedgewood Room.”

Trader Vic’s – Beverly Hills Hilton. Phone CRestview 4-777. Opened 1956

The Tradewinds – My father, Joe Chastek, first was introduced to Polynesia when he and a high school buddy stowed away to the Philippines when they were both 17. After that, he became so immersed in the culture that it literally became his whole life until he died in 1995. He was one of the first to open a nightclub with the South Seas motif. His first was the Zamboanga, where he entertained movie stars and sports celebrities. The Zamboanga was featured on the TV Biography series that discussed early 1940’s South Seas nightclubs in Los Angeles. His second nightclub was the Tradewinds. His third, the Vagabond’s House was on Wilshire Blvd in LA, and was incredibly popular with, again, movie stars and sports celebrities. http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=7557&forum=1&start=30&39&PHPSESSID=1c2af6f24b55eecad6347406400a7636

The Trap – About 4pm Fitzgerald could get away to a salon built right on the Metro lot. The place was called The Trap, so named because the management seemed to think that it was poaching on their workers’ time. There Fitzgerald could be seen with one of his omnipresent Coke bottles, and there he would rejoin the clique – Loos, Gable, Tracy, Huxley and the others. (32/10)

Travaglini’s Café and Lounge – 6480 Sunset Boulevard, Phone GRanite 9119

Travaglini’s One-Za-Meal Restaurant – 17500 Ventura Boulevard, Encino

Trocadero Café-Restaurant – 6600 Hollywood Boulevard, Phone HO-2172
Not to be confused with the New Trocadero Café at 1761 West Jefferson Boulevard, Phone REpublic 9571

The Tropical Village – gay venue raided in 1948. (60/91) 51/101 says it was located in Santa Monica.

Try Later, 8279 Santa Monica Blvd, opened in 1951.”You always kept phoning until you got a job or Central Casting closed the switchboard. The phone was the line. The words “Try later” became a joke password with the Hollywood extras. If you asked to borrow some money, you were likely to be told “try later”. Some years afterward, Frankie Darro opened a bar called the “Try Later”, where extras met to discuss their hopes and fears, exchange wardrobes, call Central Casting, and even drink.

Oddly enough, even with his off and on drinking problems, Frankie operated a bar on Santa Monica Blvd. for a time. The establishment was called the “Try Later”. One article from the L.A. Daily News dated August 16, 1951 (provided by Wade Ballard) states: “The latest motion picture profile to go into the bistro business is actor Frankie Darro, who has opened up what he calls, without mincing words, ‘a bar’ on Santa Monica boulevard. This cocktail lounge is dubbed ‘Try Later’ and caters to ‘the kids from pictures’. Darro explains the ‘Try Later’ as follows: “You know when you call Central Casting, they tell you only two things on the phone: ‘No work’ or ‘Try later’.” He adds: “This is my first venture into this business. I’ve always wanted to have a bar. I’ve spent so much money on the other side of bars that I thought I’d get behind one and get even.” Darro, who is 33 years old, has been in pictures for 28 years. He just completed a couple of movies at Metro and says he isn’t giving up his acting career. Associated with him in the enterprise is Lee Carroll, an ex-Hollywood agent. (Wade notes that he’s always wondered if this man is related to Dorothy Carroll – Frankie’s 3rd wife – who he married right after his divorce to Betty Marie – her dad or her brother perhaps???). The “Try Later” features something called a Sunday Morning Club where hungry actors can get ham and eggs, potatoes, toast, coffee and a drink for one dollar. “But that’s only if you’re a member of the club,” says Darro, “To be a member you’ve got to have a card and pay a dime. That’s to keep out the riffraff.”

63/35 – The bar was once called the Try Later and owned by Frankie Darro, the star of B pictures. It’s now called the Raincheck. It was one of Veronica Lake’s favorite hangouts.

Town and Country Village – This unique village, designed for the discriminating shopper, offers the latest in style and fashions. The village also includes several delightful cafes. NOTE: formerly at S.E. corner of 3rd and Fairfax.

Twin Barrels – Beverly Blvd, 3 blocks west of La Brea Ave, Los Angeles

The 365 Bar – By the late 1950s, despite continuing hostility and harassment of the LAPD, a number of gay establishments had sprung up: the House of Ivy, the Cherokee House, Maxwell’s, The Black Cat, the “356” bar downtown. Most gay bars had existed outside Los Angeles city limits where county sheriffs were traditionally far more tolerant. (10/346)
And if you looked at the downtown bars like the Waldorf, the Cellar, the 326 – it was so goddamned open. (11/36)

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