Wilshire Boulevard Brown Derby
Opened in 1926, the original restaurant at 3427 Wilshire Boulevard remains the most famous due to its distinctive shape. Whimsical architecture was popular at the time, and the restaurant was designed to catch the eye of passing motorists. It is said that the shape of the hat worn by New York governor and 1928 Democratic Party presidential candidate Al Smith, a personal friend of Somborn, was an inspiration. Another theory claims that Somborn was told that a good restaurateur could serve food out of a hat and still make a success of it.
The small cafe, close to popular Hollywood hot spots such as Cocoanut Grove at the Ambassador Hotel, became successful enough to warrant the building of a second branch.
The building was moved in 1937 to 3377 Wilshire Boulevard at the northeast corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Alexandria Avenue, about a block from its previous location (and about a block north of the Ambassador Hotel). After being sold in 1975 and renovated, was finally replaced in 1980 by a shopping center known as the Brown Derby Plaza. The domed structure was incorporated into the third floor of the building and accommodates a cafe (see photo at right with brown dome in recessed corner). A Korean mini-mall occupies the site today.
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Famous quotes containing the words boulevard and/or brown:
“Ev’ry street’s a boulevard in old New York.”
—Bob Hilliard (1928–1971)
“Oh, little brown girl, born for sorrow’s mate,
Keep all you have of queenliness,
Forgetting that you once were slave,
And let your full lips laugh at Fate!”
—Gwendolyn B. Bennett (1902–1981)