Feb. 10, 1940: Ching Howe is opening in the Valley.
Photo: The 11380 block of Ventura Boulevard. Credit: Google street view.
Studio City seemed to blossom into an entertainment-related town after the opening of the Mack Sennett Studios in 1928. Many of the businesses along Ventura Boulevard catered to performers or were owned by celebrities, especially restaurants and nightclubs.
Famed Chinese American cinematographer James Wong Howe (SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS, PRISONER OF ZENDA) opened a Chinese eatery at 11386 Ventura Blvd. on Feb. 5, 1940, operated and managed by his wife, Sanora Babb. As the Feb. 10, 1940, Los Angeles Times ad proclaimed, “Chinese food in the Chinese manner.” Opening night featured such guests as Cary Grant, Randolph Scott, John Garfield, Claude Rains and director John Cromwell.
Performers enjoyed the food and the atmosphere, with such stars as Marlene Dietrich, Mickey Rooney, and William “Hopalong Cassidy” Boyd hosting parties at the site. Actors such as Dick Powell, Van Heflin, Veronica Lake, Rosalind Russell, Tyrone Power, and Ann Sheridan often dined in the restaurant. Daily Variety reported the closing of the restaurant on Sept. 21, 1951, which according to his nephew Don Lee, was because of Babb’s blacklisting and departure to Mexico for two years.
Nov. 22, 1939: Thanksgiving at Grace Hayes Lodge – with Peter Lind Hayes and Jerry Lester.
Catty corner across the street at 11345 Ventura Blvd., a building appears to have operated continuously as a nightclub from at least the 1940s to the present day. During the 1940s, the business operated as Grace Hayes Lodge. It became Larry Potter’s Supper Club in the 1950s and hosted actor Lee Marvin speaking to four Young Democrat Clubs on Dec. 11, 1959 for the Sane Nuclear Policy movement
By the early 1960s, D.J. Bob Eubanks bought the facility and ran it as a club called the Cinnamon Cinder. It was here on Aug. 23, 1964, that the Beatles gave a secret press conference crashed by the club’s guests. Within a couple of years it operated under the name Magic Mushroom.
Feb. 22, 1987: Curves, Rhythm Tramps and Talkin With Roscoe at Sasch.
Photo: 11345 Ventura Blvd. Credit: Google street view.
American Bandstand host Dick Clark bought the building and opened a country western nightclub called the V.I.S. Club on March 26, 1969, with singer Merle Haggard performing as the opening act. Actor Jack Nance managed the business. Clark described to writer Robert Hilburn in the March 28, 1969, Los Angeles Times why he wanted to open a country music nightclub. “Country music, along with soul music, is the biggest trend in the music business today. I’ve always liked country music. People don’t know I was a country music disc jockey for a while before I ever became involved with rock ‘n’ roll.”
Unfortunately, the club lasted only a few years before being replaced by a rock nightclub called Point After, which featured hot pants and sweaty bodies. By the 1980s it was called Sasch, and played rock ‘n’ roll and rock videos. Its name became Platinum Live sometime after 2000, hosting private parties and small music acts, before closing last year.
1. Peter Lind Hayes was the plumber in the weird Dr. Seuss musical The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T. How weird? See e.g. the Dress Me Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcwAymlCB1k
2. I went to that nightclub in the eighties. Thanks for its unique history.
I’d be interested in knowing more about the 7 digit phone numbers listed in the two ads. I find it hard to believe that the valley (or any part of LA) had 7 digits (including prefix) in the early forties.
As late as 1951 we had a 6 digit phone in central LA (ALbany 9121).
@Barry: Actually there were some seven-digit phone numbers in L.A. A quick jaunt through my 1944 Yellow Pages shows:
Dow Radio Supply — RYan 1-6683
City Service Radio — NOrmandy 1-9687
Hodson Electric — NOrmandy 2-4925
Radio Maintenance Center — PLeasant 2-3225.
Check the 1942 Los Angeles city directory, which is online thanks to the fabulous Los Angeles Public Library!
Thanks. I guess they couldn’t switch to 7 digits all at once. For a long time Yellow Cab was MAdison 1234, finally changing to MA 5-1234. Lot’s of growth post WW II.
@Barry: I lived in a rural area, without rotary phones, so I remember picking up the phone and getting an operator who asked: “Number please.”
And of course The Times was MAdison 2345
It’s only the Sasch ad from the 1980s which has a 7 digit number. The ads from 1939 and 1940 have the six digit numbers.
Cinnamon Cinder nightclub. A non-alcoholic teen nightclub. I photographed the Beatles there at the so-called “secret” press conference. They were cheeky, but fun. Please note James Wong Howe could not marry his Latina girlfriend (and, later, wife,) for several years because of the Anti-Chinese California law that forbid Asians to marry persons of another race. As Larry says, “the good old days….”
@Fibber: Thanks!
Great bit of history! I worked at Sasch in the early to mid 80s and fondly remember pouring myself into that catsuit every night. The staff were great – so many good memories – non publishable.
I worked as a doorman at the Sasch in the 80′s, I met my future employer Carmine Appice there one night as he was dating one of the waitress’