Brown Derby

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For the liquor stores, see Brown Derby (company).

The Brown Derby

The Brown Derby was a landmark restaurant in Los Angeles frequented by celebrities during the Golden Age of Hollywood. It was an example of novelty architecture, known for being physically shaped like a brown derby hat. It was the first restaurant to serve chiffon cake, a soon-to-be famous recipe invented by insurance salesman Harry Baker and later picked up by Betty Crocker. The Brown Derby on Vine Street was the home of hundreds of caricatures of celebrities. Many of these caricatures were drawn by Mr. Jack Lane between 1947 and 1985. Lane, who still lives in Woodland Hills, California, has written a book, "A Gallery of Stars: The Story of the Hollywood Brown Derby Wall of Fame", describing his years as the resident caricaturist there.

The single greatest legacy recipe of the Brown Derby is the Cobb Salad. It was invented by and named after Bob Cobb, one of the owners of the Brown Derby. According to Bob's wife Sally, Bob basically raided the fridge late one night at the restaurant and chopped up some left-overs for his dinner. Some of his Hollywood friends, including Jack Warner, Sid Grauman, Wilson Mizner, and Gene Fowler stopped by the restaurant that night and, curious about Bob's creation, joined him. They then began to ask for it on later visits, and the rest was history.

It was named after the Brown Derby Restaurant located in Malverne, New York, which operated as a popular vaudeville hang-out. It had been owned by Frank Britton Wenzel. This restaurant closed in 2001.

The first Brown Derby, also known as the Little Hat, was opened in February 1926 across the street from the Ambassador Hotel. The Derby was often the site of afterparties following bashes at the Ambassador Hotel's Cocoanut Grove nightclub. This was the only Derby that was actually built in the shape of a hat. In 1937, it was moved one block up the street.

A second Brown Derby opened at 1628 Vine Street, near Hollywood and Vine on Valentine's Day, 1929. In 1942 MGM film star Ruth Hussey first met her talent agent husband Bob Longenecker at lunch there. Other Derbies were later built in Beverly Hills (across from the Beverly-Wilshire Hotel on Wilshire and Rodeo) and in East Hollywood (also known as Los Feliz) at Los Feliz Boulevard and Hillhurst. The Los Feliz Derby had a "car café" which emulated the then-new "drive-in" trend.

The Wilshire Boulevard Brown Derby today

The Hollywood Derby closed in 1985, shortly followed by the original location's closure. The shell of the Brown Derby was restored and placed on top of the strip mall that took its spot at 3377 Wilshire Boulevard. It is now painted orange and home to Buzz.

The Los Feliz Derby is now a nightclub called The Derby. In the late 1990s, it was one of the centers of the resurgence of swing dancing, offering live swing dance bands seven nights a week and launching the careers of modern swing bands such as Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Johnny Crawford and his band often played there as well. Today, the Derby offers a variety of entertainment throughout the week, and swing dancing with live bands is still featured on Sunday nights and special occasions.

In June of 2004, the Derby and adjacent lots were purchased by Hillhurst/Los Feliz LLC, a subsidiary of Adler Reality Investments Inc. The building faced demolition to make room for a condominium complex. An independent coalition called "Save The Derby" fought to prevent the Derby from being demolished by getting it recognized as an official historical landmark. On May 19, 2006, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to designate the entire structure an official Historic Cultural Monument of the City of Los Angeles.

There is a re-created Hollywood Brown Derby at the Disney's Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. Another recreation of the Hollywood Brown Derby is currently being constructed in Albany, New York. (www.thehollywoodbrownderby.com)

"Brown Derby" is also the name of a dessert served by the fast food franchise Wimpy. It consisted of a ball of ice cream, and a warmed chocolate doughnut.

In "L. A. At Last", the first of the Hollywood episodes of "I Love Lucy", Lucy (Lucille Ball), Ethel (Vivian Vance), and Fred (William Frawley) have lunch at the Brown Derby. During the misadventure, the trio dines in a booth neighbored by Eve Arden on one side and William Holden on the other. This leads to the famous disaster scene in which Lucy inadvertently causes a waiter to dump a plate of food on Holden.

Neo-swing band Cherry Poppin' Daddies have a song titled "Brown Derby Jump" on their album Zoot Suit Riot.

In the book The Neddiad by Daniel Pinkwater, Neddie and his family move from Chicago to Hollywood soley to eat at The Brown Derby. The move leads to a series of adventures involving a jellybean, a sacred turtle, and a girl named Yggdrasil.