Messhall Kitchen (Los Angeles, California)

USA / California / Glendale / Los Angeles, California / Los Feliz Boulevard, 4500
 restaurant  Add category
 Upload a photo

4500 Los Feliz Boulevard
Hollywood, CA 90027
www.messhallkitchen.com/

Originally part of the Brown Derby chain of restaurants. The domed structure at Los Feliz Boulevard and Hillhurst Avenue in Los Angeles was the fourth Brown Derby, a small restaurant chain popular with the entertainment industry in Hollywood's Golden Age.

With the support of public officials, the former Brown Derby property was declared a historic landmark.

The property has been altered numerous times since it opened in 1929 as a Willard's chicken restaurant. In 1941, it was purchased by legendary director Cecil B. DeMille. He opened the Brown Derby fine dining and 24-hour car service, in keeping with the drive-in restaurant fad of the era.

From the 1960s to the early 1990s, the Brown Derby location was home to Michael's Los Feliz restaurant. It was occupied most recently by a branch of Louise's Trattoria. The owners of Louise's closed it recently. It reopened, in conjunction with restaurateur Bill Chait, as a new eatery called MessHall.

A Chase Bank branch took over the domed portion of the former Brown Derby, preserving the arching wooden ceiling that was a key element of a primitive air conditioning system that allowed water to drip down the sides of the dome and cool the room.

The new owner is CMC Asset Investments Inc., a company owned by the Chu family of Los Feliz, which will operate the property as it is.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   34°6'41"N   118°17'16"W

Comments

  • This was also the buidling used for exterior shots of the New Arnolds in Happy Days
  •  25 km
  •  43 km
  •  50 km
  •  59 km
  •  67 km
  •  69 km
  •  92 km
  •  168 km
  •  224 km
  •  271 km
This article was last modified 8 years ago