0 Tom Breneman's "Breakfast in Hollywood"

Tom Breneman with audience member. (c) LIFE

Radio entertainment was never more popular than it was in the 1940s. During this time radio stations were popping up all over Hollywood. Vine Street was a particular hub for radio. Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Edgar Bergen, and Milton Berle were some the names that ruled the air waves and their fans flocked to Hollywood, or "Radio City" as it was sometimes called, to be members of the studio audience - much the same way audiences sit in on some television shows.

Breakfast in Hollywood (1946)

One of the popular radio programs that broadcasted from Vine Street in Hollywood was Tom Breneman's "Breakfast in Hollywood." This morning show was an unscripted program with much audience participation and fans lined up outside the studio as early as 5am to take part. 

In 1946 Breneman and United Artists released a film called Breakfast in Hollywood as a way to promote the radio program. The film is not very good but worth watching to get an idea of how the radio program went and for some interesting cameos by Hedda Hopper and the Nat King Cole trio.

Breneman originally hosted Breakfast in Hollywood from the former Tropics nightclub on Vine but later bought the Hollywood Recreation Center next door, converting the bowling alley into a restaurant and radio studio. Most of Tom Breneman's Hollywood Restaurant is torn down, however, the facade still remains. If you look at the two photos below you can see how the streamlined facade has been incorporated into what is now a condominium and retail space.

Tom Breneman's Hollywood Restaurant on Vine Street

Vine Street, Hollywood, California

Facade of former Tom Breneman's Hollywood Restaurant

On April 28, 1948, just before the broadcast of Breakfast in Hollywood was to begin Breneman had a heart attack and died. Garry Moore took over hosting duties but the show quickly failed without Breneman. After the radio program ended Sammy Davis Jr. and investors purchased the building. The next tenant would be ABC which used the space for ABC Radio Center. Eddie Cantor and Frank Sinatra both became disc jockey's at ABC and Louella Parsons did an interview show with celebrities at the Vine Street location.

Looking Southwest down Vine at Tom Breneman's

Former location of Tom Breneman's

Your thoughts?

Detail: Tom Breneman's "Breakfast in Hollywood"

0 Florentine Gardens - Hollywood Nightspot

Florentine Gardens, 5955 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood

In the late 1930s and 1940s radio was huge in Hollywood. Stations were located all over town - up and down Vine Street, Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood Boulevard. The radio stations brought a large crowd into Hollywood and at night that crowd needed a place to party. There were many clubs and entertainment joints that popped up around Hollywood and one of them was the Florentine Gardens on Hollywood Boulevard.

Opening in 1938, the Florentine Gardens was a dinner theater. The cost back then was $1.50 and an audience would get some Italian food, partially nude girls, an emcee, dancers, a singer and more. Whereas the Sunset Strip featured many upscale nightspots, Hollywood had more of the working class nightspots and the Florentine Gardens was one of them.

Various performers made appearances at the Florentine Gardens including such big acts as the Mills Brothers and Sophie Tucker. Yvonne DeCarlo, or more famously known as Lily Munster, from the 1960s television show The Munsters, started as a chorus girl at the Florentine Gardens. And another interesting tidbit - when Norma Jean Baker, just 16 years-old, married Jim Dougherty, the wedding party celebrated at Florentine Gardens. Of course Norma Jean did not stay married to Dougherty for long. She eventually moved on with her life and became the big star Marilyn Monroe. She would have many different and more notable lovers after Dougherty.

Business wasn't always good at the Florentine Gardens but in the early 1940s, with WWII going on, many servicemen could be found in Hollywood. It's no surprise that these young men would find the affordable and at times sleazy entertainment of the Florentine Gardens attractive. These servicemen kept the business coming for the Florentine Gardens. But, of course this didn't last. In 1948, the Florentine Gardens went bankrupt. It later reopened as the Cotton Club and ran for a few more years as a place for black performers but the Cotton Club would also struggle. Today the building still stands and is a nightclub featuring live groups and D.J.s.

Here is a great YouTube video featuring some nice images of the Florentine Gardens:

Detail: Florentine Gardens - Hollywood Nightspot

0 NBC Hollywood - Then & Now

NBC Studios c.1940s - Sunset Blvd & Vine St.

NBC Studios site 2012, Sunset & Vine Hollywood

Above are photos of the NBC Radio Studios lot during the 1940s and how the location appears today. During the 1930s all the major radio networks in New York City began opening up west coast locations in this area of Hollywood. NBC first had a west coast radio studio in 1937 located on Melrose Avenue near the Paramount and RKO studios. This studio had two small stages with seats for live audiences. However, when CBS opened a much larger studio NBC decided to build a new a larger state-of-the-art radio studio located at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street. The building, which opened in 1938 was a stylish streamlined art deco structure with eight studios and a three story office building.

However, like many historical structures in Hollywood the NBC Radio Studio in Hollywood would be demolished. Today there is a Washington Mutual bank (now a Chace bank?) on the corner. Also, notice how much smaller the palm trees are in the old photograph and the difference in the skyline.

Radio show guests and performers who were visiting would sometimes stay at the Plaza Hotel just up the street. That building is still standing. Also neighboring the NBC Radio Studios and the Plaza Hotel was the popular Brown Derby restaurant where all the big Hollywood stars dined. However, this Brown Derby has been demolished.

Detail: NBC Hollywood - Then & Now

0 "It Cafe" and Hollywood Plaza Hotel

1637 N. Vine Street, Hollywood, CA

During the 1920s Hollywood was a rapidly growing town and to accommodate all the incoming folks numerous apartment hotels started to spring up. One of those apartment hotels was the Hollywood Plaza Hotel, built in 1924, located at 1637 North Vine Street just south of Hollywood Boulevard.

In the 1940s and 1950s when many broadcast studios were located on or near Vine Street the hotel became popular with radio people. George Burns even had offices at the top of the Hollywood Plaza Hotel. The popular radio DJ Johnny Grant did his show from the Hollywood Plaza Bar. Grant also did a radio show from midnight - 4:00 a.m. in the nearby Ham and Eggers Restaurant. Grant would mix playing records with chatting up all the stars that would drop in - stars as big as Bing Crosby or Jimmy Durante.

Hollywood Plaza Hotel and later "IT Cafe" site.

In 1937, the silent film actress Clara Bow opened a nightclub adjacent to the Plaza, named the "It Cafe" in reference to her popular film "It." By this time Bow was not the big star she used to be and the opening of the club was an attempt to revive her career. Bow managed the place with her husband Rex Bell and at the opening, promised to be in attendance 3 times a week. However, after the birth of her second child Bow gained weight and lost interest in the club. The club would be a short lived venture.

Clara "It Girl" Bow

Detail: "It Cafe" and Hollywood Plaza Hotel