Tag Archives: Restaurants
Original Brown Derby restaurant and coffee shop, 3427 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles
Most photos we see of the first Brown Derby on Wilshire Blvd just show the most interesting part—the derby-shaped restaurant on the Alexandria Ave corner, so it’s easy to assume that’s all there was. In its original incarnation, it was … Continue reading
Carpenter’s drive-in restaurant, 667 S Western Ave at Wilshire, Los Angeles, 1937
What a sight this place must have been come nightfall. This is Carpenter’s drive-in restaurant, Wilshire Blvd and Western Ave, Los Angeles, 1937. Carpenter’s had a number of locations around LA, but this one was opposite the Wiltern Theater. I … Continue reading
Color slide of original Brown Derby Restaurant, Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles
The Brown Derby restaurant that we think of as the original— oriented to the northeast corner of Wilshire and Alexandria—was actually not the original location. It was first built facing due south at 3427 Wilshire between Mariposa and Alexandria. We … Continue reading
Snapshot of Schwab’s Pharmacy and Googies Coffee Shop, Sunset Blvd, circa early 1950s
Oh, this snapshot. How I love thee. Let me count the ways: We can see the legendary Schwab’s Pharmacy and it’s kooky neighbor, Googies Coffee Shop. I love the blur of 1950s car zooming down Sunset Blvd, and the fact … Continue reading
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Tagged Color photo, Googie's coffee shop, Restaurants, Schwab's Pharmacy, Sunset Blvd
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Brown Derby at Wilshire Blvd and Rodeo Dr., Beverly Hills, 1942
I would imagine that back in the day when most of LA’s buildings were only one or two stories, the tall derby-shaped signs for the Brown Derby restaurants really stood out. This is the Beverly Hills Brown Derby at the … Continue reading
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Tagged Beverly Hills, Brown Derby, Restaurants, Rodeo Drive, Wilshire Blvd
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List of Los Angeles nightclubs and bars from a telephone book, circa 1940s or 1950s
B & R Cafe Bal Tabarin Cafe Samba Club Band Box Cafe Billy Berg’s Billingsley’s Bocage Room Tom Breneman’s Holllywood Restaurant Burgundy Room Cafe Angelo Caliente Cafe Earl Carroll Theatre-Restaurant Casablance Happy-Hacker Ciro’s Club Algiers Club Babalu Club Cobra Club … Continue reading
McDonnell’s drive-in restaurant No. 6 at Sunset Blvd and La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, mid 1930s
I was recently contacted by a woman who is researching her family’s history. In 1935, her parents borrowed $25 and drove from Kansas to Los Angeles, where her father worked at several McDonnell’s restaurants, eventually becoming manager at McDonnell’s No. … Continue reading
Brown Derby restaurant, Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, 1954
There is something about the original Brown Derby restaurant on Wilshire Blvd that epitomizes golden-era Hollywood for me. And when I find a color shot of the place, it allows me to slip more easily into imagining what it must … Continue reading
Brown Derby restaurant menu from 1941
Recently, David F wrote to me and said: “My mother passed away in 2008 and I was left among other things, a 1941 authentic Brown Derby menu. Her family went on a 3 week vacation out to the west cost … Continue reading