This is part of a post from 1/2 dozen years ago.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=3615
Quote:
Originally Posted by gsjansen
some more The Outsider, Los Angeles on location filming....
looking north on la cienega towards santa monica boulevard past the losers club
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This is the only known mention on NLA I've located concerning The Losers on La Cienega Blvd.
Apparently this place/location has a little history.
According to the Felix in Hollywood blogspot, Marie Rose Antoinette Catherine de Robert d'Aqueria de Rochegude of Le Havre married in Paris and became the Baroness Catherine d'Erlanger. She was mostly known by the nickname "Flame: because of her hair color. In the late 30's, when things were heading toward war in Europe, she packed some things and ended up in Hollywood. In 1939 she opened up the Cafe Gala, catering mostly to gay clientele, on Horn Ave. above Sunset Blvd.
More about the Baroness here:
http://felixinhollywood.blogspot.com...some-dame.html
CAFE GALA post:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=37551
After a decade the club closed and Baroness d'Erlanger opened "881". An ad for this club:
Felix in Hollywood
Scotty Bowers mentions this club in his 2012 book Full Service as he was the bartender who opened the place.
In the Full Service book, Scotty Bowers says that John Walsh was a singer who managed the Cafe Gala and the Plymouth House and "Johnny" called him to join him in starting the new upscale club, owned by the above mentioned Countess. "It was to be a chic, expensive establishment with a fully equipped kitchen specializing in French cuisine."
https://books.google.com/books?id=7H4dQO-g8BwC&pg=PT146&lpg=PT146&dq=John+Walsh
By 1958, at least, the location was called Regency. This was an advertisement in Daily Variety, Thursday, December 4, 1958, p. 8.
Regency, formerly John Walsh's 881
Joe Castro Jazz
Still the Regency in 1960:
Advertisement in Los Angeles Examiner, Los Angeles, California, Friday, April 8, 1960, p. 9, Sec. 2.
Joe Castro Jazz
By 1962 it was The Losers:
Greg Dziawer on Joe Bevins blog
As you can see, they had two marquees out front, one highlighting people as "Losers of the Week," the other for the performers playing there.
Advertisement in Daily Variety, Los Angeles, California, Thursday, November 14, 1963, p. 9.
Joe Castro Jazz
By the way, during this time, Joe Castro was involved with heiress Doris Duke.
Here's a record album recorded at the club:
Discogs
It was released in 1963. One of the songs on the album,
E_R, is "Back Home Again in Indiana."
The first image in this post, from the TV series The Outsider, is from around 1969. The marquees can't be read in that photo, but it appears that sometime after these people were playing jazz and singing in this establishment, that it became one of the first topless strip clubs to open in the area.
Match cover:
https://www.pinterest.es/pin/193725221452035934
"Smut film aficionados will likely recognize The Losers as breeding ground for Russ Meyer talent. Erica Gavin, Kitten Natividad, Haji and Tura Satana all danced there."
Pinterest/GetMatches
In this clip of marquee drive-by footage, you can see the club was still The Losers in 1970 (at the 0:18 mark). Very brief clip.
• Video Link
A website was delving into a later adult film directed by Ed Wood, titled The Young Marrieds and discovered that some of it was shot on La Cienega at this location, c. 1971.
The information is presented as though the name of the place is the Nude-A- Go-Go, not that it was only that name in the film, so I'm not sure if it was still The Losers in 1971 or had changed it's name to the Nude-A-Go-Go.
The following photo is a screencap from the film showing our hero Ben coming out of the place. The blog author has photoshopped the title of his article onto the left marquee, however. We can see that it says, most likely Nude A Go Go on the right marquee.
Ed Wood Wednesdays
The author does say that what was on that left marquee was this: LOSER OF THE WEEK / STU NAHAN / AND HIS COMPUTER.
What this was after 1971 I don't know, but the building, at La Cienega and Willoughby, is now gone. So is the 881 address.