Quote:
Originally Posted by ethereal_reality
Excellent post on Irv's Hamburgers and the "Try Later" Martin Pal. I searched high and low for a photograph of the "Try Later"
but came up empty.
& you mentioned "Wild Boys of the Road"
There's a fairly new biography on William Wellman, called "Wild Bill Wellman, Hollywood Rebel". I read it a few months ago and it was excellent.
|
Thanks,
E_R, and thanks for the book recommendation. I borrowed a friends Forbidden Hollywood collection of pre-code films that were all directed by Wellman. There are two separate documentaries about him and his films on there that you'd probably enjoy if you could find them, after having read the book.
_______
I also could not find any photos (I'll say "yet") of the "Try Later" place, or it's incarnation afterwards, The Raincheck/Raincheck Room. It probably doesn't look much different than the "O Bar" and "Don't Tell Mama" photos posted. The current Norah restaurant has no signage, though. I guess it's that kind of location.
Thanks,
HossC for the dating references to the location. For a place like the Raincheck that I know no one has ever mentioned before and that I didn't know about and yet so many many people of celebrity status worked and visited there it makes me wonder why it never had a
public reputation? It does seem that both Try Later and Raincheck were frequented by these people because it didn't have a public reputation, I guess, so maybe that's why. The Raincheck certainly does have a lot of references on line from past habitues. Here are some of the most interesting ones:
I found a very small photo posted by "videodave", that only blurs when enlarged, of the bulletin board of the "New / Old" Raincheck Room.
Be Funky
He says, "The Raincheck Room. The bar that saved my sanity and where I met a great deal of the people I know."
_______
There's a Facebook page for the Raincheck Room, "Dedicated to those who visited and loved the Raincheck Room", but there is very little activity on it.
https://www.facebook.com/raincheckroom
_______
There's a youtube channel called RAINCHECK ROOM. It started on March 10, 2016, but the only content is one 15 second video titled "Winner's Circle: Some winners of the Quiz at the legendary Raincheck Room in West Hollywood, CA." I was the third viewer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNvCAdPNCnU
I found mention of this "Quiz" in a 1993 article about the Silver Spoon Restaurant. (The Silver Spoon was formerly Theodore's. It has since closed. My phone number used to be one number off from Theodore's. I remember one New Year's Day morning being awakened by the phone ringing. I picked it up to a voice saying, "Do you cook chicken?" I said, "I haven't recently, I usually go to Theodore's and have some of theirs.") From the article:
The quiz began as a somewhat ragtag affair in 1958 at the defunct Raincheck down the street, where Jim Field worked. Moving to the Silver Spoon (then called the Theodore Cafe) five years ago, he brought the quiz--and the patrons--with him. Every week about 50 dedicated souls furrow their brows over questions such as "Who was the first guest on the Johnny Carson Tonight show?" (Answer Below.)*** But basically this is not a trivia test. Rather, it's mostly about "things we should all have learned somewhere along the line," says Field.
Field, 68, a former Broadway actor, insists, "My main purpose is to make it entertaining" but not simplistic. He admits, "I would be a failure at many of these subjects." Cheating is almost unheard of, though quizmaster Field did catch a culprit once at the Raincheck: "He'd look the quiz over and then he'd say he left his cigarettes in the car. He'd be gone 20 minutes. We found out he had all these books in the trunk--an atlas, an encyclopedia. . ."
***(Groucho Marx)
_______
Here's a short snippet from a biography page (on an Irwin Allen site) of Arch Whiting, an actor who came to Hollywood in 1959 and subsequently got the role of Sparks on Voyage ot the Bottom of the Sea:
During Voyage's run, Arch had to work other jobs to make ends meet. In addition to acting on other shows, Arch worked in a seedy Hollywood bar on Santa Monica Blvd., a nightclub called the Rain Check Room. Zell Davis and Phil Pearl owned and ran the place. For some reason, a lot of New York actors frequented the Rain Check Room, people like Ben Gazarra, Shelly Winters, and Rod Steiger. They all knew Arch, knew he was an actor, and that's how he got a lot of jobs. Directors would pop in and ask if he was busy the next day. If he was not on call for VOYAGE, he'd go over and appear on shows such as Ben Gazarra's "Run For Your Life". He worked at the Rain Check Room for three years.
http://www.actordatabase.com/archwhiting/bio.htm
_______
In: Jack's Life: A Biography of Jack Nicholson by Patrick McGilligan, page 107:
Jack and his friends frequented Chez Paulette's, where Brando liked to go, across the street from 77 Sunset Strip, The Unicorn, a beatnik coffeehouse and bookshop where Lenny Bruce did standup, they'd play darts at a bar called the Raincheck Room, down the street from the Players Ring, they pitched pennies at Barney's Beanery, or they'd repair to Pupi's, lingering for hours over dessert and coffee.
_______
The place is also featured in fictional works:
In the novel by John Kaye titled "Stars Screaming," The Raincheck Room and vicinity is a location for a movie shoot in one of its chapters.
It's also a location in Thomas Pynchon's novel "Inherent Vice," pages 269-270, made into a film last year.
It's mentioned as the workpl;ace of a character in "Force Majeure: A Novel" by Bruce Wagner.
_______
And in this fascinating blog post from Jesse on the Brink, Jesse states "I get mail from the most interesting people! One is a gentleman by the name of J. Lee Cline who lived in California back in the 1960's."
Jesse: Besides Canyon Club, J. talks about another refuge, a place called the Raincheck Room. It was a place where out of work actors, dancers, and singers hung out waiting for their agents to call. One lady, about 70 years old who acted 27, would occasionally swing into the Raincheck Room and vamp it up when she was feeling blue.
Says J:
Someone would come in and say, "Here comes Mae!" and the fun would begin. Drinks were on the house, and we all got to see Mae West perform some of the songs she had done in film. I remember Minnie the Moocher was her favorite and she would camp it up. She always said she owed her style to drag queens she had seen growing up in the 1890's. Each visit, rare as they were, was a performance I think she planned out and enjoyed. Mae had her one liners, rolled her eyes, and wore like 5" platform shoes to make herself 5'5" or so, she was tiny and always supported by a muscle guy who drove her white limo. I think her driver was named Chester, a really nice guy, really gay, and I had never met a muscle guy who was a queen so that was over the top for me. But he could butch it up and was fun to talk to while Mae was doing her "thing".
She just loved being adored. There's a scene in a recent movie where the lead woman who has a scene where she goes to a shopping mall when she feels blue, just to be noticed and praised. Mae was in that mode when she was at the Raincheck. A very different kind of star lived around the corner from the Raincheck Room: Loretta Young. I'd occasionally see her drive out.
http://jesseonthebrink.blogspot.com/2010/07.html
___
Updated timeline of this location with new info from
HossC.
8279 Santa Monica Blvd.
Before 1951:
The 1942 CD lists 8279 Santa Monica under the heading Carpet Cleaners and Layers,
with a number for David O. Colley. David and his wife Mae lived at 1245 W. 46th St.
He and his residence phone # were still listed in the 1965 directory but not in the 1967.
TRY LATER - (1951 - c. 1958)
Article indicates it opened in 1951. Closed at least by 1960; it was listed in the 1956 CD, but not in the next available one, 1960.
THE RAINCHECK / THE RAINCHECK ROOM - (1960 - c.1987)
Opened in the early 1960's per the Warren Oates book. Closed: "its lifespan, which ran a few years past the legal drinking age" which was either 18 or 21 depending, and Blaster thinks it closed in the mid-to late 80's.
HossC has noted the place is listed as The Raincheck in the 1960 CD, up until it's listed as the Raincheck Room in 1973 and 1987.
CHEERS - (?)
In between Raincheck and O ar there was at least one other, Cheers, though, perhaps because it was called "Cheers," I can only find vague references to it and no specific information.
O BAR - (2003 - 2011)
L.A. Eater had a post in 2011 announcing O Bar was closing after eight years, which means it opened in 2003.
I found these two exterior shots:
Jason in Hollywood
NightLife
DON'T TELL MAMA - (2013 - 2014)
An iteration of the Don't Tell Mama in NYC, but a combination of city licensing problems and revenue was the stated reasons it closed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HossC
Here's how 8279 Santa Monica Boulevard looked as "don't tell mama".
GSV
|
NORAH (2016 - ?)
Restaurant that
Variety calls "gone way glam" and "rustic and elegant."