I found the old Cotton Club thanks to the wonderful
Historic Aerials. It sat with its back to National Boulevard, right next to the old Helms Bakeries factory.
This dates to 1948, the earliest coverage available:
A mere four years later and it's gone:
The obvious conclusion here is that Helms needed to expand and made a nice little offer on the land. Today, the circa 1950 buildings still stand:
Back to the Cotton Club, I figured searching for Helms Bakeries might turn up more photos of it, but I only came up with this shred from 1947....note the tower at the far left:
Helms Bakeries at
LAPL
Searching for aerial photos turned up this shot from 1926 which shows it already up by then:
Panorama of Culver City, 1926 at
LAPL
Randomness from December 21, 1937:
Cafe International/Sebastian's Cotton Club at
LAPL
1928....."Frank Sebastian was already experienced in the entertainment business before he came to Culver City. Sebastian's customers enjoyed "Las Vegas type" acts at his "Cotton Club" on Washington Boulevard at National. It offered valet parking, three dance floors, and full orchestras, rivaling the club of the same name in New York."
Frank Sebastian, Cotton Club proprietor at
LAPL
And at that point I discovered this 1924 aerial of the Cotton Club. HOWEVER, it is labelled as the
Green Mill Cafe, which can clearly be discerned on the sign(s) perched over the parking entrances:
Green Mill Cafe, aerial at
LAPL
Another aerial, this one undated although it should be noted the billboards are carrying the same ads as in the above image:
Green Mill Cafe, exterior at
LAPL
Google then turned up this bit of info about the origins of the building:
Quote:
|
In November, 1922, Aurelio Garau and his wife, Sarah Garau, were the owners in fee simple of a piece of property consisting of approximately eight acres known as the "Garau Home Place" located near Culver City, which property is bounded on the south side by Washington boulevard, a major boulevard from Los Angeles to Venice, on the west side by National Boulevard, and on the north side by Venice Boulevard. During the month of November, 1922, Garau and his wife entered into an agreement leasing said property to the Green Mill Catering Company and in January, 1923, said company commenced the construction thereon of a large cafe and restaurant building. Thereafter the Green Mill, Inc., was formed, which assumed the rights, duties and privileges of said Green Mill Catering Company and completed said building, at a total cost in excess of $90,000.
|
That came from
a court case that then plunges into the nitty gritty:
Quote:
|
During this period of construction Morris Rauch secured from Garau and his wife a written option, dated March 26, 1923, for one year, to purchase said property for a consideration of $90,000 cash, or upon terms to be agreed upon by the parties. This option was given for the reason that Rauch stated that it was impossible for the Green Mill, Inc., to finance the construction of the building on leased property without an option to purchase the property during the life of the lease, and it was the understanding of Garau and Rauch that upon the satisfactory completion of the building Rauch should repurchase from Garau the stock in the Green Mill, Inc., which Garau had theretofore purchased. Thereafter, Rauch interested Samuel Hersh in furnishing money for the completion of said building, and Hersh out of funds owned by his wife put into the construction of said building a substantial amount of money and Rauch assigned, by written assignment, to Samuel Hersh, the option upon said real property.
|
As you can imagine, things got worse before they got better--I'll spare you all the boredom of quoting the whole case, but you can go
here to see who ended up with the property.
So...1923 to roughly 1927 on the Green Mill Cafe, then Sebastian's Cotton Club until 1950, give or take a year. Then...adios!
Prev
Last 13 images from 
All from 
LAPL
Wikipedia
Linear Mode
