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The Places

Restaurants, hotels, nightclubs, studios, theaters, and vanished addresses where the Hollywood story actually happened.

Restaurant

Musso & Frank Grill

Hollywood’s oldest surviving restaurant, a red-booth institution on Hollywood Boulevard.

Still open
Movie palace

Grauman’s Chinese Theatre

The 1927 movie palace famous for premieres and the forecourt of handprints and footprints.

Still open as TCL Chinese Theatre
Hotel

Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel

A Spanish Colonial Revival hotel across from the Chinese Theatre and site of the first Academy Awards ceremony.

Still open
Hotel

Chateau Marmont

The castle-like Sunset Boulevard hotel that became a discreet refuge for generations of performers.

Still open
Restaurant

Hollywood Brown Derby

The Vine Street Brown Derby was a power-lunch institution lined with celebrity caricatures.

Closed; historic site
Nightclub

Ciro’s

A glamorous Sunset Strip nightclub where movie stars, columnists, and musicians mixed under intense publicity.

Closed; site later became The Comedy Store
Nightclub

Mocambo

A famously theatrical Sunset Strip nightclub with exotic décor and a celebrity-heavy room.

Closed; historic site
Nightclub

Trocadero

A Sunset Strip club whose dance floor, radio broadcasts, and celebrity clientele helped define 1930s nightlife.

Closed; historic site
Nightclub

Cocoanut Grove

The Ambassador Hotel’s tropical-themed nightclub hosted major performers, awards events, and decades of Hollywood social life.

Closed with the Ambassador Hotel
Drugstore / soda fountain

Schwab’s Pharmacy

A Sunset Boulevard pharmacy and soda fountain that became embedded in Hollywood lore as a meeting place for working actors and industry people.

Closed; historic site
Restaurant

Romanoff’s

A celebrity restaurant built around the cultivated persona of proprietor Michael Romanoff.

Closed; historic site
Restaurant / bar

Formosa Cafe

A red railroad-car-adjacent restaurant and bar that served generations of studio workers and stars.

Still open
Studio-era beauty landmark

Max Factor Building

The glamorous headquarters and salon complex associated with the makeup company that helped codify screen beauty.

Survives; now Hollywood Museum
Studio

Paramount Pictures

The historic Melrose Avenue lot remains one of the clearest surviving studio-era production sites.

Still an active studio lot
Studio

Warner Bros. Studios

The Burbank lot associated with Warner’s fast-talking crime films, backstage musicals, prestige dramas, and later television.

Still an active studio lot
Studio

MGM Studios

The Culver City factory behind MGM’s famous roster of stars, musicals, and large-scale productions.

Historic MGM lot; later Sony Pictures Studios
Wartime club

Hollywood Canteen

A volunteer-run wartime club where entertainment workers served and performed for Allied servicemembers.

Closed; historic site
Movie palace

El Capitan Theatre

A 1926 theater that moved from legitimate stage productions into movie exhibition and later restoration.

Still open
Theatre

Pantages Theatre

An Art Deco theater near Hollywood and Vine that hosted the Academy Awards during the 1950s.

Still open
Movie palace

Egyptian Theatre

Sid Grauman’s earlier Hollywood Boulevard movie palace, opened before the Chinese Theatre.

Restored and operating
Hotel / bungalow complex

Garden of Allah

A famously bohemian bungalow complex whose residents included writers, actors, and musicians.

Demolished; historic site
Private residence

Pickfair

The Beverly Hills estate of Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks became an early symbol of movie-star aristocracy.

Original house demolished; site remains private
Department store

Bullocks Wilshire

An Art Deco luxury department store designed for the automobile age and patronized by Hollywood clients.

Survives as Southwestern Law School
Hotel

Ambassador Hotel

A major Wilshire hotel whose Cocoanut Grove nightclub and awards events made it a Hollywood social center.

Demolished; historic site