Cafe Montmartre: Hollywood’s First Nightclub

Café Montmartre was the one place where you could see Hollywood just as you believed it to be: Joan Crawford dancing on a tabletop, Rudolph Valentino dining with Natacha Rambova (and her little dog), rivals Lupe Velez and Lilyan Tashman fighting in the powder room.

Montmartre Cafe in 1926 (USC)

Opened in 1923, Montmartre was Hollywood Boulevard’s first nightclub and the latest venture from Adolph “Eddie” Brandstatter, one of the most prominent restauranteurs in Los Angeles.

The Frenchman, who had previously worked in Paris, London, and New York, leased the top floor of the two-story building, designed by Meyer & Holler (Grauman’s Chinese and Egyptian Theatres, First National Bank) in the style of an Italian Renaissance palazzo, with Spanish tiling and Mexican wrought-iron grilled doors.

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