The Sunset Strip
With the end of Prohibition in early 1934, the Sunset Strip became a world-famous glittering corridor of celebrity nightclubs, all less than a mile or two west of the Garden of Allah on Sunset. The first of the important celebrity clubs was Café Trocadero, opened by Billy Wilkerson, discoverer of Lana Turner, in September 1934. Wilkerson stationed a photographer at the entrance of the club, so that celebrities entering “the Troc” were guaranteed coverage in the magazine the next day. What the public didn’t know was Wilkerson – an inveterate gambler – hosted high-stakes gaming for moguls only in the backroom of the lower floor.
In 1940, Wilkerson opened Ciro’s as another “celebrities only” club. Rather than booking top singers and musicians, Wilkerson hired a house band to play for after dinner dancing. That same year, writer/director Preston Sturges (The Lady Eve, Sullivan’s Travels, The Palm Beach Story) opened The Players Club. His vision was a complete night under one roof: drinks, dining, dancing.
In 1941, partners Charlie Morrison and Felix Young opened Mocambo after spending over $100,000 remodeling the space. It became famous not just for its glamour, but for breaking racial barriers. Eartha Kitt, Lena Horne, and Ella Fitzgerald performed there, challenging the acceptable norms of the Jim Crow era – but while African-American performers were welcome on stage, down on the floor it was whites only.
There were also many smaller clubs along the Strip. One of the more unusual places was Club Bali, 12 blocks west of the Garden, where Bruz Fletcher, a singer-songwriter and pianist known for his gay-coded innuendo and double entendres drew stars like Bogart and Mayo Methot and Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman.