Brown Derby

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The Brown Derby Restaurant on Wilshire Blvd. at Alexandria Ave., with its sign "Eat in the Hat" above.The first Brown Derby Restaurant, built in 1926 and generally referred to as the "Wilshire Brown Derby." Designed in part by J.R. Davidson, the "derby" measured 28 feet in diameter and 17 1/2 feet in height this was the only one of the four restaurant buildings that resembled a bowler hat. First it was located at 3427 Wilshire Boulevard, across the street from the Ambassador Hotel, but was later moved one block over to 3347 Wilshire Boulevard. In 1975, it was closed and sold. After the restaurant was demolished in 1980, the shell of the hat-shaped dome was restored and incorporated into the design of the Brown Derby Plaza, a strip mall at 3377 Wilshire Boulevard.