The Windsor Apartments and Windsor/Prince Restaurant History

LOS ANGELES HISTORY OF THE WINDSOR APARTMENTS, WINDSOR RESTAURANT AND PRINCE (KOREAN) RESTAURANT

By Jonathon, www.latimemachines.com

The Windsor Apartments

The Prince (Windsor) Restaurant

The Windsor Apartments (3198 W. 7th St., Wilshire Center/Koreatown), for decades referred to as one of the largest and most elegant apartments in Los Angeles, opened for business in March of 1927. Located at the corner of 7^th and Catalina Streets, the Windsor Apartments were built and owned originally by Samuel Rabinowitch. Serving both as an apartment building and hotel, it appears the Windsor was known as a place where people of Jewish heritage could stay without facing the prevalent discrimination of the time. With English Tudor styling, the Windsor Apartments today stand looking almost untouched from their original design. Next to the former site of the Ambassador Hotel and within blocks of other very historic apartments such as the Gaylord and the Talmadge, the Windsor reflects an era when the Wilshire District was one of the most elegant residential areas in Los Angeles.

The Windsor Apartments changed ownership many times during the first few decades of its existence. But other than two significant fires, it appears to have quietly gone forth providing a wholesome and elegant lifestyle for its renters, without any major scandal or notoriety. What brought the location more into the public eye was a long run of excellent restaurants on the site.

The first public restaurant at the Windsor Apartments was the Windsor Inn, decorated in the style of an outdoor garden. The Windsor Inn opened its doors early in 1927, soon after the apartments opened. The restaurants at the Windsor retained a respectable, albeit quiet reputation in Los Angeles. Then Ben Dimsdale came on the scene, bringing his new "Windsor Restaurant" to the forefront of Los Angeles high society. One cannot discuss the history of the Windsor Restaurant without a brief look at Mr. Dimsdale’s life and some of the other restaurants he ran as well.

Ben Dimsdale (it appears he or his parents may have changed their last name at some point) was born in Sioux City, Iowa in 1909. His parents were Russians from Minsk. Ben Dimsdale started out in his father’s butcher shop at age nine. In Iowa he worked as a humble cook and dish washer in the Eppley Hotel. The Eppley belonged to a corporation that ran the Alexandria Hotel in Los Angeles, perhaps prompting his move to Los Angeles.

It appears that in 1926 or 1927, Ben Dimsdale first came to Hollywood. He started his career selling newspapers and then worked as a bellhop at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. In 1930, he married his (first?) wife Hazel and he later had two children. His first restaurant was on Highland Ave. in Hollywood called the Highland House, which lasted from 1940 to 1946. Ben Dimsdale then ran the Windsor Restaurant (for a time with his cousins) from 1949 until 1990 (different sources put the establishment of the Windsor from between 1941 to 1950 - 1949 seems to be the most likely). Dimsdale was involved in two more restaurants in Wilshire Center with his cousins Harold and Seymour Dimsdale -The Secret Harbor (opened in the 1950’s and is presently the HMS Bounty Restaurant - also with an historic interior) and Dale's (opened in 1953 in the former Chapman Park Hotel). President Nixon was a guest at the Windsor Restaurant. The Windsor Restaurant's specialties were "filet de Boeuf Pique 'Forestiere' ($42) and Calf's sweetbreads Saute, Mascotte ($18.50). The prix fix lunch included several courses brought to your table on carts for you to make a selection. Also on the menu were Chicken Kiev, Veal Oscar and Steak Diane. An expansion of the Windsor was done by no one less than Armet & Davis (who practically invented the California Coffee shop) in 1961.

At one point there were five Dimsdale family restaurants – the Windsor, the Secret Harbor, “the Dales”, Ocotillo Lodge in Palm Springs, and Wilshire Terrace in Westwood. In 1973 Ben Dimsdale, by then the owner of the apartment building as well, renovated the Windsor Apartment Hotel at a cost of $650,000 under the supervision once again of Lou Armet and Eldon Davis. The Windsor Restaurant makes a very significant appearance in the movie "Chinatown", possibly meant to be a stand in for the Brown Derby Restaurant. Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway have a long conversation in one of the Windsor’s signature pleated red leather booths. The Windsor closed in November of 1991. Until the day it closed, the maitre d' wore white gloves and a tuxedo. The Windsor during most of its run was considered one of the finest restaurants in Los Angeles.

I do not know at what point the current Korean owner purchased the Windsor and changed the name to “the Prince”, but it is a great tribute to the new owner’s foresight that he made no changes to the incredible historic interior of the former Windsor Restaurant. The interior was recently prominently featured in the movie “Thank You for Smoking”. The Prince restaurant has continued to be extremely popular, known for their signature Korean style fried chicken dish. What is possibly the most unique aspect of the current restaurant, above and beyond the historic interior, is the cross cultural aspect of the clientele. This restaurant marks one of the few places where people of Korean and non-Korean ancestry can “rub elbows” at the bar and talk about each others cultures and experiences. Given the unique history and characteristics of this Apartment building and restaurant, it is vitally important to Los Angeles that these institutions be preserved.

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