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Photograph caption dated January 18, 1940 reads, "Here is the home at 4709 Norwich, North Hollywood, in the exclusive Sherman Oaks district, where Brandstatter invited his last guest - Death. His body was found in his car by his wife and Larry Adlon, an employee." Lapl

4709 Norwich - 1940. (Evidence of just an oil leak in the driveway or more?)
Lapl


Eddie Brandstatter, 1940

Eddie Brandstatter was one of Hollywood's greatest early restaurateurs. A native of France, he worked in Paris, London and New York restaurants before moving to Los Angeles in the 1910s. In 1920 he was joint owner and manager of the Sunset Inn in Santa Monica. In 1923 he built the famous Cafe Montmartre, designed by Meyer and Holler, at a cost of $150,000. This establishment was described as "the center of Hollywood life", where stars usually frequented, and which was the place to see and be seen. In 1929 Brandstatter opened the Embassy Club, a private and exclusive venue for his Hollywood friends, but due to financial troubles, opened the club to the general public in 1932. That same year Brandstatter declared bankruptcy and sold Montmartre. At one point, he was charged with grand theft in a dispute with Hollywood real estate developer C.E. Toberman for having stolen furnishings, drapes, china, and a large "nude statue" of a woman, as well as other valuables and was convicted, though he was given two years probation after returning the property. In 1933 he bounced back and opened Sardi's, only to be again convicted for illegally selling "stimulants" at the establishment. Sadly, Sardi's Restaurant was destroyed by fire on November 2, 1936. The last venue Brandstatter opened and operated was the Bohemian Grill on Vine. On January 20, 1940 Brandstatter's wife, Helen, found the once-famous restaurateur dead in their home garage in Sherman Oaks. He had committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning in his car. He was 54.

Prohibition was in force, but Brandstatter didn't expect his customers to endure a night of dining and dancing stone-cold sober. Everybody brought a hip flask, and if you drank it dry, there was a bootlegger on the premises to top it off for you, though people grumbled about his prices.

On the other hand, you were at the Montmartre, the center of the universe. Outside, people were lined up down the block hoping for a chance to dine with the stars. So shut up and pay.

In 1929, Brandstatter made a disastrous mistake by opening a private venue, the Embassy Club, for his Hollywood friends. Now that they had paid their dues, the stars started partying at the Embassy Club instead of the Montmartre, and since the stars weren't dining there anymore, ordinary people stopped coming too.http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr...atter-20110414