^^^
Guess I'll continue on down the block...
I was looking at the Dwayne Hickman photo above and see the place to the right of Cavalier is called The Handlebar in that 1960 photo.
Here's another 1960 photo with Dwayne Hickman and that name on the awning:
IMDB
In the 1962 photo at the top it's called The Opera House.
On a website about the strip a commenter wrote: Does anyone remember a club
called "Fred Pratt's Opera House"? I think it might have existed in the [same] building right before it became Jesse James' Opera House...
...which then became London Fog. I think it may have been Fred Pratt's Opera House from 1961 - 1965. Anyone?
I haven't been able to find anything else about anyone named Fred Pratt.
Maybe in the 1962 photo where it just says "The Opera House", that place was run by Fred Pratt?
Here's an undated photo with the Jesse James Opera House banner:
Apparently after Jesse James acquired the Opera House, he opened a new club there called London Fog. I could have sworn that this location was posted on NLA at one time or another, or at least mentioned, but I tried searching and found no evidence that was the case.
DoorsHistory
From a 1965 issue of the publication 'Nite Life West' regarding how Jesse James came up with the name 'London Fog':
"Asked how he came to call it 'London Fog', Jesse replied he was combing his hair to look like the Beatles, and with his hair down over his eyes, he remarked, 'Looking through my hair is like looking in a London fog'. Immediately the idea struck him as the name for his new club."
There's a Facebook page for London Fog and even they don't have any really good photos of the place. I found this one in another location:
London Fog, 8919 Sunset Blvd.
Despite it's notoriety, it opened in 1965 and closed in 1966.
DoorsHistory
You'll notice the Doors banner in the photo. They were hired as the house band there for a time. One of the band members said, after their audition night where they invited dozens of friends to come,
“The London Fog immediately went back to its usual clientele. A few businessmen, two sailors on shore leave in their angel whites, a couple of prostitutes, an occasional transvestite hustler, a small group of guys and girls from the valley looking for strip action – it sure wasn’t at the London Fog – and a random hippie or two. But never at the same time. Always scattered over the evening, so that any given moment there were approximately ten people in the joint.”
Known bands to have played there: The Doors, The Us, The Enemys and The Lost Souls.
This is Us
in front of the club:
DoorsHistory
If you click on the above photo, there's a similar cut off version in color.
The Enemys became a house band at the Whisky, and even appeared on The Beverly Hillbillies!
• Video Link
There's an even longer clip with them from the show, but...it's dubbed in Japanese!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSwW...ature=youtu.be
So far, I haven't found out what was there after London Fog closed in 1966, but right now it's a barbershop!
Moving on down the block... (to be continued)