Cocoanut Grove, Los Angeles 1954
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The Cocoanut Grove nightclub, located within Los Angeles’ Ambassador Hotel, became a byword for glamour when it opened in April 1921, with an exotic Moroccan theme. Papier mache cocoanut trees used in Rudolph Valentino’s silent film classic The Sheik were repurposed as decoration for the nightclub. Swinging from their branches were stuffed monkeys blinking at revelers with electric eyes.
Hollywood stars such as Clark Gable, Katherine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Gary Grant, Lucille Ball, John Wayne and Ginger Rogers frequented the nightclub, and the1939 Oscars ceremony was held there.
This legendary nightclub at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles accommodated up to 1,000 patrons in tiered seating, annual reserved boxes, and a large dance floor for the big bands of the era. The famous Hollywood hotspot on Wilshire Boulevard was patrolled by house photographers who took pictures of guests as memories of the evening and delivered them in souvenir folders like this one, which is dated 1954.
Although there is no artist signature on this image, we believe it was created by Don May, (1911-1993) a designer widely admired as the ‘layout man’s layout man.’ Born in Tecumseh, Michigan, May started his career in the catalogue design department of the department store company Sears Roebuck in Chicago. He became promotions art director at the Chicago Daily News and layout director for Esquire magazine. His 1942 book 101 Roughs: A Handbook of Advertising Layout was reprinted three times.
In 1947 he moved to Anaheim, California, with his family and became a freelance graphic designer and illustrator.
In 1968, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, the winner of the California Democratic primary election, visited the Ambassador Hotel for a victory speech to supporters and was shot three times in the pantry area of the hotel’s kitchen. He died the following day.
The Ambassador closed to guests in 1989, and most of the building was demolished between 2005 and 2006.
NB: photo folders did not come with menus but we have included this one from the late 1950s as an example of the hospitality on offer.
Each order includes a print of the interior menu.
All printed in USA.
