Quote:
Originally Posted by Chuckaluck
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This postcard reminded me that when I first came to Los Angeles and was talking about the Hollywood Brown Derby in some way, I remember my friend said if I went there I should eat in the coffee shop. I inquired about what that was and she said "The Brown Derby Coffee Shop." "It's right next door and they use the same kitchen so the food is just as good."
This postcard reminded me that photos of the Brown Derby often do not show what is to the left of the entrance to the Brown Derby. In fact, the book I have about the Brown Derby doesn't even mention that there were coffee shops.
This photo taken in 1938 shows the Eddie Cantor Gift Shop located next to the Hollywood Brown Derby.
MartinTurnbull/photoblog
Sometime after that photo the BROWN DERBY HOLLYWOOD SHOP opened there and they sold liquor and the like. (It seems to me I've seen photos of Brown Derby Beer cans.) I found some small postcard images showing this, but no good photograph this morning/afternoon, so far. The postcard above hints at this store though.
Sometime later (late 40's early 50's?) this location became The Brown Derby Coffee Shop.
1950's:
Panoramio
Postcard:
Ebay
I did eat there in the late 70's. The food was good, I recall, but I'm not exactly sure what I had. It seems to me it was either soup and a sandwhich or chili. I recall that across the street, at the Huntington Hartford Theatre, "California Suite" was being staged.
I also ate in the restaurant on my birthday in 1981. I had Chicken Curry. (?) I still have the gold and brown matches somewhere.
I was trying to find interior photos of the Coffee Shop, but no luck so far.
I did find this interesting item:
In 1950, a deck of Brown Derby playing cards was produced (by the restaurant) with the proceeds going to benefit the City of Hope Medical Center. All images and info below is from this link, which is a site devoted to all kinds of card decks:
http://www.dxpo-playingcards.com/xpo...deck-08-12.htm
Here's the back-design of the deck:
The box that contained the card deck:
The site says: "The Aces show the 4 Brown Derby restaurants of Los Angeles."
They do show three of them, but the 4th one is not the original Wilshire site which was still there in 1950, but rather one I've never heard of before: "The Brown Derby Coffee Shop, Crenshaw Center."
You can see all 52 cards, plus two jokers by visiting the link.
The Aces show the Restaurants.
The Kings and Jokers show the reason for the cards, the City of Hope facilities.
The number cards, Queens and Jacks show some of the famous caricatures displayed on the walls of the Hollywood Brown Derby, like "Queen of Clubs" Liberace...! It would be interesting to know, of the 40 caricatures on the cards, how those were chosen from the hundreds in the restaurant.
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Here's a post from E_R showing a twilight neon noirly lit view of Vine Street, where you can see the Brown Derby Coffee Shop.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=5842