BROWN DERBY RESTAURANT HISTORY

BROWN DERBY RESTAURANT HISTORY

The Brown Derby Restaurants, Herbert Somborn and Bob Cobb - No other restaurant "chain" will ever be so closely associated with Hollywood or Los Angeles, golden age or otherwise (not even Musso & Frank's). Arguably, the Brown Derby Restaurant at one point may have been the main symbol of Los Angeles itself. For more information on Brown Derby history, see my restaurateur page articles on Herbert Somborn and Robert " Bob " Howard Cobb ( creator / inventor of the Cobb salad).

Menu from Herbert Somborn's Hi Hat restaurant that briefly became a Brown Derby Restaurant and was finally bought out by Alexander Perino to become Perino's Restaurant. Image generously provided by Annette S.

The first Brown Derby Restaurant (the only one resembling a hat - generally referred to as the "Wilshire Brown Derby") was first located at 3427 Wilshire Blvd. (where the Equitable Building now stands) which later moved to 3347 Wilshire and was incorporated into a larger coffee shop. There is a nice shot of the Brown Derby after its one block move, in the movie "The Stand In" released in 1937 (a pleasant movie with Humphrey Bogart - it also has a shot of the Ambassador and mentions the Beverly-Wilshire, the Trocadero Cafe, the Victor Hugo and Cafe La Maze). The Hat Brown Derby later became independent of the chain comprised of the other three Brown Derby Restaurants. The Brown Derby Restaurant was based on a bowler hat. Its diameter was 28 ft. Its height was 17 and one half feet. The other later branches were near Rodeo drive at 9537 Wilshire (the "Beverly Hills Brown Derby"), 4500 Los Feliz (opened 1941, the structure here still stands and has a club called the "Derby" - more below), and the Hollywood Brown Derby was at 1628 Vine St (opened 2-12-29). The first lot for the Brown Derby Restaurant Hat cost $155,000. In the early 1930s, Herbert Somborn tried a more upscale art deco version of the Brown Derby called the Hi Hat (it later was briefly an official "Brown Derby" as is discussed in Kevin Roderick's great book on Wilshire Boulevard). It was designed in part by J. R. Davidson. Through out the 1930s, the Brown Derby was the center of a labor dispute with a waiter’s strike and later the Teamsters and Screen Actor’s Guild boycotting the Brown Derby with actors manning the picket line. In 1934, the Original Brown Derby opened an Outdoor Café. By the way - even in the original Brown Derby, the whole restaurant did not fit in the Hat. There was an extension not often seen behind it.

This is the only possible remnant of the building that once housed the Hollywood Brown Derby soon to be torn down for the W hotel project

As was previously mentioned, in 1937 the Brown Derby moved one block and expanded into a coffee shop. By 1941, the Brown Derby was considered more famous than any movie star, according to newspaper accounts. Long after Somborn’s death, the Brown Derby continued its corporate name as H. K Somborn Enterprises. In 1936, Bob Cobb appeared in an ad for Camel cigarettes. He bought the Hollywood Stars baseball club of the Pacific Coast League as a partner with others in 1938 (in 1957 the Hollywood Stars moved to Salt Lake City to make way for the Dodgers). At 1632 N. Vine St. the Brown Derby opened a liquor store in 1940. The Hat Brown Derby had a California Room, where great emphasis was placed on an open fire where meats were cooked. In the 1940s you could choose an uncooked steak and have it hickory broiled. In 1941, another Brown Derby liquor store opened at 4500 Los Feliz. In 1945 the Los Feliz Brown Derby sustained $6000 damage in a fire. The Car Café Los Feliz branch had a dining room as well as car service. The Car Café Brown Derby was partially owned by Cecil B. De Mille. In 1946, the Brown Derby’s labor problems resurfaced when there was a citywide strike of restaurant workers. Another Brown Derby store opened up at 1910 N. Bronson in the 1940s. By this time the shops had expanded from liquor to pastries, household goods and gifts.

In 1951 Robert Kreis was the supervising chef at all of the Brown Derbies. He had worked at the Brown Derbies since 1931. In 1952 Gloria Somborn Anderson (Gloria Daly) gave up her interest in the three “newer” Brown Derbies and took over complete control of the Original Wilshire Brown Derby. The Vine Street Brown Derby did a $250,000 remodel for its 30th anniversary, inside and out in 1959, losing it’s Spanish style looks. In 1959, the Hollywood Brown Derby opened a sidewalk café in a nearby alley. The Wilshire Brown Derby also redecorated around this time, I guess to keep up with the other Brown Derbies. In 1975 Walter Scharfe bought the Vine St. Brown Derby and put a million dollars into restoring it. The Wilshire Brown Derby suddenly closed in September of 1980, with plans to immediately tear it down, but a preservation battle “saved” it. On April 3, 1985, the Vine St. Derby, the last of the original chain closed its doors due to a lease problem. A later version opened up in Pasadena for a while.

There are so many stories of how the Brown Derby idea came to be, I'll try to collect them here. One was Herbert Somborn's friend saying "If you know anything about food, you can sell it out of a hat". Another story mentions Wilson Mizner being a big fan of Bat Masterson, who wore a Brown Derby. Another variation is that if a restaurant's food was good enough, it could be called something as silly as a Brown Derby. Another theory is that it was influenced by New York governor Al Smith, a friend of Somborn, who wore a bowler hat. It goes on and on. Send me the version you heard.

P.S. Isn't it crazy the Hollywood doesn't have a Brown Derby recreation? And I'm not talking about the half-way recreations that have been attempted (including in Florida of all places). How hard would it be to recreate the Wilshire Brown Derby Hat with its very austere interior? Please, if there is an insane Billionaire out there, let's make a new one and hire me to make sure it's done right! We need a Brown Derby Restaurant in Los Angeles! And while we are at it, let's buy up the remaining movie palaces on Broadway and restore them (hey, would even doing one be asking too much?). Isn't this a better use of your money than buying some island in the middle of nowhere? And above all - it would be profitable - this time around, Los Angeles is ready to support the cause!!!

This picture shows the sad state of the Original Hat Brown Derby, now moved to the top of a mini mall. Although the Los Angeles Conservancy and Hollywood Heritage fought a brave battle to save it, apparently there are no enforceable rules as to what color it should be painted and how it can be modified. Of course, there was also no way to protect the original interior which is completely gone (it was gutted immediately in 1980). It's sort of like displaying the mummy of a golden age movie star and dressing him or her up as a clown to boot. Of course it's better to have the shell than not, but something must be done to treat it with a little more respect. Thank heaven Bob Cobb and Herbert Somborn are not alive to see this.

There was a recent battle over tearing down the Los Feliz Brown Derby Restaurant site. This branch opened in 1941 as a Drive-in Car Cafe - open 24 hours. In 1960, it went out of business and Michael's restaurant took over. In recent years it had a renaissance as "The Derby" swing club, seen in the movie "Swingers". This battle was recently, thankfully, won.

BRING THE BROWN DERBY BACK TO LOS ANGELES!

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