A Walking Tour of The Sunset Strip – Part 3

I heart L.A. so much that I wrote a love letter disguised as a romance novel, ‘Los Angeles, I’m Yours‘ which is available as an eBook (and FREE in Kindle Unlimited) or paperback from Amazon (UK / US).

I’m finally going back there for a vacation at the end of February (#soexcited) and what better way to celebrate than by blogging about the places I’m most looking forward to exploring whilst we’re there.

On Sunset Strip (which is where we’ll be staying), you’re literally surrounded by literary, celluloid and rock music history so I’ve put together a walking tour of the Sunset Strip: Old & New. I hope you enjoy!

ICYMI: Part 1 & Part 2.

(8588) MOCAMBO (Closed)

Mocambo opened on 3 January 1941. The décor, designed by TONY DUQUETTE (1914-99), was Mexican-themed, cost $100k and included glass aviaries on the walls containing live cockatoos, macaws, parrots and other birds.

FRANK SINATRA (1915-98) made his debut as a solo act (after leaving the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra) at Mocambo.

Although she wasn’t the first African-American singer to perform at the Mocambo, ELLA FITZGERALD (1917-96) got her big break by opening there on 15 March 1955 (after MARILYN MONROE (1926-62) lobbied owner, CHARLIE MORRISON for the booking).

LUCILLE BALL (1911-89) and DESI ARNAZ (1917-86) were regulars at the Mocambo and recreated the main stage as the fictional Tropicana Club in their TV series, I Love Lucy (1951-7).

After Charlie passed away in 1957, the club stayed open until 30 June 1958. The building was later demolished.

(8606) THE OPPENHEIM GROUP (Website)

OK so maybe the next stop on this Walking Tour of The Sunset Strip isn’t quite as historic as the others but if you’re a fan of the Netflix reality TV series, Selling Sunset (2019+) you can’t walk along Sunset without taking at least a quick peek at the L.A. HQ of real estate brokerage, The Oppenheim Group.

(8610) CAFÉ TROCADERO (Closed)

Before it was Café Trocadero, 8610 was home to Club La Boheme. GEORGE FRANCIS PADUZZI (aka Karyl Norman) (1897-1947) opened at CLB on 21 September 1932. Karyl’s signature act was an impersonation of JOAN CRAWFORD (1904-77) as Sadie Thompson in Rain (1932). Joan herself gave Karyl’s act the seal of approval after seeing it with her friend, BILLY HAINES (1900-73) (Playground to the Stars). In January 1934, CLB was raided for illegal gambling along with the Old Colony Club and Clover Club and closed down.

WILLIAM WILKERSON (see also Schwab’s Pharmacy and Ciro’s) opened Café Trocadero on 17 September 1934. It was named after the Trocadero Plaza in Paris, France.

William sold the Troc to NOLA HAHN in May 1938 and within a year, it was being managed by FELIX YOUNG (who went on to open Mocambo with CHARLIE MORRISON) but he got into a dispute with landlord, Chateau Sunset Corp and the Troc closed in October 1939 ending up in involuntary bankruptcy.

Two months later it reopened as The Trocadero and hosted the Hollywood premiere party for Gone with the Wind (1939) but in May 1940 it went out of business for good and the fixtures and fittings were auctioned off.

As with most addresses on the Sunset Strip, there are a couple of mysteries associated with Café Trocadero.

THELMA TODD (1906-35) (Actress) was last seen alive on 14 December 1935 at a party at the Troc thrown by STANLEY LUPINO (1893-1942) and his daughter, IDA LUPINO (1918-95). She had an unpleasant exchange at the party with her ex-husband, PAT DiCICCO (1909-78), who was there with MARGARET LINDSAY (1910-81) (Actress).

Photo Credit: RKO, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The following morning (16 December) Thelma was found deceased in her 1934 Lincoln Phateon inside the garage of the home shared by JEWEL CARMEN (1897-1984) (Actress) and ROLAND WEST (1885-1952) (Director). Jewel and Roland married in 1918 but had become estranged and Roland was engaged in a long-time affair with Thelma. Thelma’s official cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning and “accidental with possible suicide tendencies’ although no motive or suicide note was ever found.

The Troc was also the last place that TED HEALY (1896-1937) (Creator of ‘The Three Stooges’) was seen alive on 20 December 1937. He was reportedly celebrating the birth of his son, John Jacob, who’d been born on 17 December 1937.

Photo Credit: MGM, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

MAN MOUNTAIN DEAN (1891-1953) (Wrestler) was stood in front of the Plaza Hotel at 2.30am when Ted, who was bleeding, got out of a taxi. He said that he’d been attacked at the Troc but couldn’t identify his attacker(s). Ted’s friend HENRY TAYLOR said that Ted had got into an argument with 3 x “college fellows.” Dean contacted a doctor, SYDNEY WEINBERG who treated Ted at the Plaza before JOE FRISCO (1889-1958) (Vaudeville Performer) drove Ted home. After suffering from convulsions the following morning, Ted’s personal physician, WYANT LAMONT was called for. Despite the efforts of Wyant and JOHN RUDDOCK (Cardiologist), Ted passed away later that day.

In The Fixers: Eddie Mannix, Howard Strickling and the MGM Publicity Machine, EJ FLEMING alleges that rather than 3 x college boys, Ted was actually attacked by WALLACE BEERY (1885-1949) (Actor), ALBERT R. BROCCOLI (1909-96) (Film Producer) and PAT DiCICCO (Thelma Todd’s ex-husband) and that after Ted passed away, LOUIS B. MAYER (1882-1957) sent Wallace (one of MGM’s hottest properties) to Europe for several months. It might be coincidental but immigration records do show that Wallace embarked on a 4-month trip to Europe immediately after Ted’s death and ending on 17 April 1938 (Great Entertainers Archives).

Albert later admitted that he did have a scuffle with Ted at the Troc but insisted they shook hands afterwards and parted ways. The official cause of death was acute toxic nephritis secondary to acute and chronic alcoholism and the investigation was closed.

(8795) SPAGO (Closed)

Photo Credit: Alan Light, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

*The main entrance was actually at 1114 Horn Avenue*

Spago, which opened in 1982, was WOLFGANG PUCK’s first restaurant. For many years, it was the place to be on Oscar Night as SWIFTY LAZAR (1907-1993) (Agent) held his annual post-Oscar party there and every movie star in Hollywood wanted an invitation. In 2001, Wolfgang closed this branch of Spago for good.

In CLIVE JAMES’ (1939-2019) Postcard from L.A. (1990), Clive talks to RICHARD ROUILLARD at Spago about the celebrity hierarchy there. In 1979, Richard cofounded National Gay Rights Advocates of San Francisco, America’s first public interest law firm for lesbians and gay men. In 1981 he moved to L.A. to be Editor-in-Chief of The Advocate. He was also Society & Style Editor for the L.A. Herald-Examiner and Senior Editorial Consultant & Contributor to the L.A. Times Magazine.

(8801) TOWER RECORDS (Closed)

Photo Credit: Mike Dillon (Assumed), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Reference: The History Of Tower Records On The Sunset Strip by Danny Jensen.

8801 Sunset Boulevard has been home to many different businesses over the years including Dolores Restaurant in the 1940s, Jack’s on the Strip in the 1950s and Muntz’ Stereo & CB Center in the 1960s but the most famous has to be Tower Records which occupied the site from 1971-2006.

Ideally located in the heart of L.A.’s growing music industry, it was where fans went to buy albums before gigs at nearby Whisky A Go Go or the Rainbow Bar & Grill and it wasn’t uncommon for them to rub shoulders with big-name musicians who either visited TR to shop or because of its highly-visible location on Sunset to promote their new music. The staff, many of whom were musicians themselves, knew their stuff and particularly appreciated the lack of dress code. DAVE GROHL worked there for two months before joining Nirvana – it was one of the few places who’d hire him because of his haircut.

RUSSELL SOLOMON opened the first TR store opened in 1960 in Sacramento, CA. He named it after his dad’s drugstore, which was in the same building as the Tower Theatre. TR filed for bankruptcy in 2004 blaming debts of ($80-100m) incurred from aggressive over-expansion, growing competition from mass discounters and internet piracy. Bankruptcy was filed for again on 20 August 2006 and on 7 October 2006, Great American Group, who were in control of the company’s assets, commenced liquidation proceedings. All remaining U.S. stores closed for the final time on 22 December 2006.

To find out more about TR, check out the documentary All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records (2015)

(8818) BOOK SOUP (Website)

You can’t have a walking tour without at least one bookstore (#sacrilege).

Photo Credit: Gary Minnaert, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Describing itself as ‘Bookseller to the Great and Infamous,’ Book Soup is the largest general interest independent bookstore in Hollywood.

It was founded in 1975 by GLENN GOLDMAN (1950-2009) and his friend from University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), DAVID MACKLER. David was studying architecture and designed Book Soup’s retail space.

For the first 20 years, Book Soup struggled to survive with Glenn even going so far as to sell some of his belongings and live in the back of the store just to keep it open.

It moved to its current digs in the late 1980s and developed a reputation for artsy books and high-profile celebrity book signings.

Sadly Glenn passed away from pancreatic cancer on 3 January 2009, just a day after selling Book Soup to Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena.

Book Soup doesn’t just have a plethora of celebrity customers, it’s also had a couple of (in)famous employees.

FAWN HALL was spotted working at Book Soup in 2012 (Washington Post). She was secretary to OLIVER NORTH at the U.S. National Security Council (1983-6) and admitted during her testimony to the U.S. Congress in June 1987 as part of their investigation into Iran-Contra that she’d helped Oliver by shredding confidential documents. In exchange for her testimony, she was granted immunity from prosecution.

In April 1993, Fawn married DANNY SUGERMAN (1954-2005). Danny started working for The Doors, answering their fan mail when he was 12 and 5 years later (after JIM MORRISON’s (1943-71) death), he became the group’s 2nd manager (replacing BILL SIDDONS). Danny reportedly introduced Fawn to crack cocaine, she became addicted and after a non-lethal overdose in 1994, went to rehab.

Another ex-employee at Book Soup was MARISKA HARGITAY, who’s best known for playing Olivia Benson in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999+). Mariska is the daughter of JAYNE MANSFIELD (1933-67), who won the 1957 Golden Globe (Most Promising Newcomer – Female) for her performance as Jerri Jordan in The Girl Can’t Help It (1956).

That’s it for today’s blog post but make sure you come back tomorrow for Part 4.

Thanks for reading, Louise x