Henry L. Gogerty and Carl Jules Weyl left their architectural imprint all over Hollywood: the Baine Building, Yucca Vine Tower, Hollywood Playhouse … and at the corner of Cahuenga and Selma.
In 1926—two years before they built the Fred C. Thomson shops on Sunset—the silent film cowboy hired the duo to design a 33-room commercial space at 1600-1610 N. Cahuenga Boulevard (pictured above in 1942).
Over the next several decades, businesses included Hollywood Camera Exchange, O-Slend-O fat reduction laboratory, Cloister Press, Madame Da Silva’s School of Dancing, Hollywood Photocopy Service, Bernard’s Stamp Shop, and Zeeba Hair Fashions.
But in 1960, the building welcomed a whole new clientele.
That year, drummer Shelly Manne opened his famous jazz club Shelly’s Manne-Hole, where the likes of John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Bill Evans graced the stage over its 12-year run at 1608 Cahuenga (the site of Kitchen24 until its closure in 2021).
Next door at 1604 Cahuenga, Wally Heider’s Studio 3 was a revolving door of rock and roll’s greatest artists. From 1967 to 1984, the music producer recorded with everyone, including the Beach Boys, Neil Young, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Fleetwood Mac, and Jefferson Airplane.
In 1969, photographer Rowland Schmerman documented CSN in the studio with Joni Mitchell and Judy Collins.
According to legend, it was under this roof where George Harrison and Eric Clapton wrote the guitar parts for “Badge,” off the final Cream album.
At some point along the way, Gogerty & Weyl’s signature style was effaced from the building—yet a small remnant remains: Churrigueresque ornament over the doorway.
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