Post #428179 by hiltiki on Sat, Jan 10, 2009 8:14 PM

The neighborhood that was Vine Street, between Hollywood Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard, was a concentration of night spots. Clara Bow's It Cafe, north of Tom Breneman's, was next to Mike Lyman's restaurant. Phil Selznick was proprietor of the It Cafe after Clara Bow moved on. Phil later opened Phil Selznick's Blue Evening in Toluca Lake in the 1950's. By the early 1960's, the It Cafe reopened as The Westerner, operated by the late Carl Ferraro of Dresden Room fame. The Blood and Sand cocktail, which was the signature drink at the Dresden in the 1940's, was served by bartender, James Rousch and others. Before Carl took over the Dresden in 1954, he operated the lobby restaurant at the Lido Hotel in Hollywood. Besides Tom Breneman's Breakfast in Hollywood on Vine, the program at one time aired from Sardi's, on Hollywood Boulevard, near Vine. Vine Street also was host to The Firefly, the Office, The Spotlight, the Conga Room, the Tropics and many more clubs through the years.

(See photos of cocktail napkins from the It Cafe and Sardi's and a photograph of the razing of Tom Breneman's)