Save the Derby-- Reposted for victoria_lane
The structure known as The Brown Derby was built in Los Feliz in 1928 by Cecil B. Demille. It was a chicken dinner house for a bit then it became the first Brown Derby Cafe in Los Angeles in 1940. Today, it is the last remaining of the five famous cafes. And the new owner wants to tear it down to build an 88 unit condo complex.
If you haven't ever been inside, you have no idea how beautiful it is. The main club has a wooden dome ceiling that is exquisite work. The entire place is like taking a step back in time, faithfully preserved, with merely the anachronisms of our modern drinking habits mixed in.
This is just shameful. I've slowly watched some of our Golden Age of Hollywood history be destroyed for very little good reason. But this one just can't come to pass. My feelings about the catty nature of the retrophile underground aside, it is a comforting thought to know that any time I want to see some vintage entertainment recreated faithfully by a large number of people or I just want to pretend for an evening that I'm living in a different era, I can go to The Derby. In fact, the few times I have been this year, it has been so packed, there were simply not enough chairs for people. In my book, that spells out success.
If you care about the preservation of our history, please consider keeping track of this situation. You can do so at this site:
http://www.savethederby.com/index.php
If you haven't ever been inside, you have no idea how beautiful it is. The main club has a wooden dome ceiling that is exquisite work. The entire place is like taking a step back in time, faithfully preserved, with merely the anachronisms of our modern drinking habits mixed in.
This is just shameful. I've slowly watched some of our Golden Age of Hollywood history be destroyed for very little good reason. But this one just can't come to pass. My feelings about the catty nature of the retrophile underground aside, it is a comforting thought to know that any time I want to see some vintage entertainment recreated faithfully by a large number of people or I just want to pretend for an evening that I'm living in a different era, I can go to The Derby. In fact, the few times I have been this year, it has been so packed, there were simply not enough chairs for people. In my book, that spells out success.
If you care about the preservation of our history, please consider keeping track of this situation. You can do so at this site:
http://www.savethederby.com/index.php