OPEN: 1940–1957
LOCATION: 8433 Sunset Boulevard West Hollywood, CA 90069
ORIGINAL PHONE: HI 7171 and HO 2-721
CUISINE: American
DESIGN: Douglas Honnold
BUILDING STYLE: Mid-Century
CURRENTLY: The Comedy Store
IN 1940, THE UNITED STATES HAD NOT YET JOINED THE WAR, AND IT WAS AN EXCITING TIME IN HOLLYWOOD. When entrepreneur Billy Wilkerson opened Ciro’s on Sunset Boulevard, films were being made close by and the stars were in need of evening excitement. The Hollywood Palladium had not opened yet, and the hotel ballrooms were always filled on the weekends.
Wilkerson, who had founded the Hollywood Reporter a decade earlier, felt that owning a nightclub for the rich and famous would help his publication. Nine months after Ciro’s opened, Wilkerson expanded its dance floor and its kitchen with a more extensive menu. He added French favorites and also a cheese course with imported European cheeses.
A classy, high-end French restaurant and dance venue, Ciro’s was nothing like Florentine Gardens on the other side of Hollywood. It was the place to be seen, located directly in the middle of the Sunset Strip and only blocks away from Beverly Hills. Everyone from Peggy Lee to Duke Ellington to Sammy Davis Jr. performed onstage at the venue.
In 1942, Wilkerson sold the club to Herman Hover, a producer for the Earl Carroll Broadway and Hollywood Theatres. Hover spent a great deal of money on publicity to lure talent to the Ciro’s stage. That same year, he added a second floor to the building, with a partial third floor for offices and dressing rooms. Knowing that the country was fixated on television at the time, Hover turned one of the upstairs rooms into a TV salon—just in time for the upcoming presidential election.
Fistfights were not uncommon at the club. A few days before Valentine’s Day in 1954, film producers Bert Friedlob and Milton Pickman started boxing in the front area of Ciro’s, with the dining room packed with patrons. Later that night, John Donovan, a watch manufacturer’s representative, clashed with clothing manufacturer Sy Devore and dressmaker Arthur Edelman. The three men began the second fistfight of the evening before Hover came along to break it up.
Ciro’s closed its doors on May 26, 1956. Hover claimed that he was forced to close the venue “due to the pressures of two entertainment agencies.” In the 1960s, Ciro’s transformed into It’s Boss, a rock club like so many of the other venues on the street. In 1972, the Comedy Store took over the location and is still in operation today. 