The Sunset Strip’s Hollywood Era
Moses Sherman’s trolley yard at Santa Monica and San Vincente became the industrial hub of the village of Sherman, which later changed its name to West Hollywood.
The Sunset Strip originated when Sunset Boulevard was extended westward from Laurel Canyon Boulevard through the new Hacienda Park neighborhood.
After Broadway superstar Alla Nazimova acquired the Hayvenhurst estate on the Strip, she turned it into a hive of intellectualism, hedonism and sexual fluidity.
Wally Reid starred in action films, dramss and comedies. An on-set accident led to a long struggle with opioids. His death was one of the first big Hollywood scandals.
Alla Nazimova launched her hotel with an all-night, celebrities-only party. A legend was born that night, and the party carried on for the next 30 years.
Designed to resemble a French chateau, the Marmont apartment building converted to a hotel in 1931. It has been the stopping place for the rich and famous ever since
“I am living in a very posh establishment, the Sunset Tower, which, or so the local gentry tell me, is where every scandal that ever happened happened.” – Truman Capote
Karyl Norman, the “Creole Fashion Plate,” performed his cross-dressing act to sell-out, celebrity-packed crowds and helped make the Strip an entertainment destination.
Billy Wilkerson, founder of The Hollywood Reporter, was also a trendsetting nightclub impresario who brought his unique style of Hollywood glamour to the Strip.
The first of Billy Wilkerson’s celebriy-focused nightspots on the Strip, Cafe Trodcadero was the place to see and be seen in the 1930s.
Bogart made his mark on Broadway in “The Petrified Forest.” In Hollywood to film the movie version, he moved to the Sunset Strip and would live there for the next decade.
Society singer-songwriter Bruz Fletcher’s lyrics were laced with “Camp”-style gay subtext. He packed the house at Club Bali on the Strip in a remarkable five-year run.
A British tavern, the CnB was a fixture at the west end of the Strp for 50 years. Its rosters of celebrity diners and imbibers includes just about every star you can think of.
At Ciro’s, stars like like Ava Gardner and Howard Duff (above) enjyoed fine dining, endless cocktails and stellar musical acts.
With its colorful Mexican-themed interior, a star-studded clientele and a reputation for booking big-name musical acts, Mocambo was one of Hollwywood’s most popular nightspots.
Club Flamingo was the rarest of birds in mid-century West Hollywood – a drag bar that operated so openly that it advertised in the Los Angeles Times.
Two months after Bugsy was arrested for bookmaking at the Sunset Tower, the “Battle of the Balcony” broke out on a balcony down the street. He wasn’t there, so why did he fight to keep it under wraps?
Around mid-century, a dozen or so professional theatre companies operated in central West Hollywood. Many future stars appeared on the stages, notably including 16-year-old Jack Nicholson.
After Siegel’s death in 1947, Cohen, his primary aide, moved the headquarters of his illegal gambling business to the Strip. He ruled his vice operations from there for the next five years.
The arrest of Brenda Allen, Hollywood’s top madam, uncovered a protection racket that implicated the LAPD’s top brass. Facing charges in 1949, Chief C.B. Horralll ressigned claiming poor health.
Hoping for headlines, Ciro’s booked an “artistic” striptease by Lili St. Cyr. Cops arrested her during the show, but Lili sensational trial gave the club the headlines it wanted.
A misguided raid on Marilyn Monroe by her ex-husband Joe DiMaggio and Frank Sinatra put them all on the cover of scandal rag Confidential Magazine.
Singer/actor Bing Crosby commissioned experts at his 9028 Sunset HQ to develop a TV taping system similar to audiotape. Their success has given the building historic status.
Howard Hughes was immensely rich and universally famous. Privately, he suffered from mental illness. An early episode played itself out in private screening room on the Strip.
The Garden of Allah threw itself a farewell party just days before demolition started. The all-night revelries would have pleased the hotel’s founder, Alla Nazimova.