Frank’s Café opened on Hollywood Boulevard in 1919, when this still-rural area was the up-and-coming movie capital of the world. The restaurant, which was named Musso & Franks Grill in 1922, became the haunt of studio heads, actors producers, directors and screenwriters in the film industry. In one of her typical dispatches, Grace Wilcox of the Screen and Radio Weekly reported in 1935 that “Charlie Chaplin dines here more often than anywhere else. He is fond of broiled lamb kidney and lamb currie (sic) and rice. Also Irish stew and a salad of lettuce with Roquefort cheese dressing. In season he likes duck …. Ginger Rogers prefers steaks and rum cake for dessert.”

In the mid-1930s, Musso & Franks Grill opened its exclusive Black Room. Dubbed “Algonquin West,” the dining room was a literary hangout for the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Raymond Chandler. William Saroyan, Dashiell Hammett and Dorothy Parker. The Screen Writers Guild was conveniently located on the other side of the street and Stanley Rose’s Bookstore, the center of literary life in LA at that time, was right next door.

Musso & Frank remains a beloved Los Angeles institution and is revered for its Hollywood history, renowned service and cuisine, with many of the dishes that first made Musso’s famous still on the menu.

Courtesy Henry Voigt Collection