Quote:
Originally Posted by ethereal_reality
The 26th annual Academy Awards Ceremony at the Pantages Theater on Hollywood Blvd. (1954)
ucla digital archive
above: To the extreme right you can see a portion of the neon sign for the Frolic Room.
below: The exquisite neon above the entrance to the Frolic Room.
Bill Hornstein
After all these years the Frolic Room is still in business.
T. Hoffarth |
First, thank you for everybody for this wonderful & fascinating thread. I've never been able explain to myself why I find Los Angeles history to be the most interesting area of history of all. And I'm not even particulary into movies or celebrity culture.
Anyway, I lived almost two decades in Hollywood in different addresses.The Frolic had been always in walking distance, and at least for apprx 12 yrs or so, I was a regular customer in there. During that time I met practically all my girlfriends in Frolic, and made friends with others customers. When I first started to frequent the place, Hollywood was still quite shabby, shady, and that particular block of Hollywood Blvd had a constant element of danger in air. I liked all that, very much indeed.
At that time (early 90's) the clientle was mostly regulars, many of them 55+ yo, some younger, and a mix of visitors from other parts of CA or L.A, even occasional out-of -state tourists sometimes. There was always interesting characters, and it really did feel like a neighborhood bar where, as cliche -like the saying sounds, "everybody knew your name." It still has the same bartenders.
Then Hollywood became a trendy place to party, now most of the clients are there to have a drink before going somewhere else. The regulars are mainly younger people who live in the neighborhood. I don't go there anymore, reason being that I just don't want to drink and sit in the bar these days. If I did, I would still frequent Frolic.
And by the way, I've witnessed a murder in there, several near -murders saw and participated in countless fights, got middle of gang -related gunfire when leaving the bar one night that forced me to duck down to avoid bullets and eventually run back to bar, where a shot-in-the arm, bleeding, underage gang member was hiding. Before he got kicked out for being in a bar as an underaged, he bled so much blood onto floor and sidewalk in front of the bar that doorguy had to throw buckets of water on it to wash it away. That sight probably made some tourists outside to change their minds about having drinks in "that bar." I learned later on that the gunfire resulted four people's death, shot in their car.
There's so many stories.
During all these years I've been interested in Frolic's history, yet I've never seen an interior photograph older than circa mid 70's. Does anyone have one to show? I'm already aware of Bukowski connection, Rock Hudson frequenting the bar in 70's when it was briefly a gay bar, L.A Confidential stint etc.
Originally, I've been told, there was an access to bar only via Pantages. The entrance from street was added later on. I wonder if this explains why in library's street directories/phonebooks display Frolic only from 1956 and up, I can't find it from 1942 directory. (I've searched only the online directories, only certain years are available, the link is found few pages back.) I also searched by address, and found that an ice cream parlor occupied the space earlier, I don't remember anymore what years was it, probably 1942, perhaps. They either shifted addresses, maybe the access was still only thru Pantages and Frolic wasn't listed independently in directories, or it hasn't been a bar constantly since 1930's.
I'm obsessed with this bar.