Formosa Cafe
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Formosa Cafe is a
restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...
and bar founded in 1925 and located at 7156
Santa Monica Boulevard Santa Monica Boulevard is a major west–east thoroughfare in Los Angeles County. It runs from Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica near the Pacific Ocean to Sunset Boulevard at Sunset Junction in Los Angeles. It passes through Beverly Hills and West ...
at the intersection with North Formosa Avenue, in
West Hollywood, California West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. It is considered one of the most ...
. The Formosa was founded in 1925 by 1920s prize-fighter Jimmy Bernstein. Bernstein operated his establishment initially in a
Red Car The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electric railway system ...
trolleySeeing Stars: Where the Stars Dine.
/ref> located just east of The United Artists studio lot. In 1945, Lem Quon went into partnership with Bernstein, taking full ownership in 1976 when Bernstein died. The restaurant remained in the family with Quon's grandson, Vince Jung, managing it. Several long-term employees worked for decades at the Formosa Cafe, including bartender Lindy Bremerton who worked there for almost 50 years, waitresses Mary Kay Moore (over 40 years), bartender Nick Pappas (over 30 years) and Catherine (Cass) Marples (over 25 years). The restaurant has a long history of
movie star A movie star (also known as a film star or cinema star) is an actor or actress who is famous for their starring, or leading, roles in movies. The term is used for performers who are marketable stars as they become popular household names and w ...
and film industry patronage due to its proximity to studio lot across the street, which began as the
United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...
lot and was later owned by
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
Generations of movie stars such as
Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart (; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American film and stage actor. His performances in Classical Hollywood cinema films made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film In ...
,
David Janssen David Janssen (born David Harold Meyer) (March 27, 1931February 13, 1980) was an American film and television actor who is best known for his starring role as Richard Kimble in the television series '' The Fugitive'' (1963–1967). Janssen also ...
and
Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades ...
have eaten meals at The Formosa.
Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...
is reputed to have spent many nights at the Formosa in the 1950s, pining over
Ava Gardner Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress. She first signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew critics' attention in 1946 with her perform ...
. In 1991, the restaurant was threatened with demolition when its lease expired as plans evolved for The Lot, the soon-to-be renamed Warner Hollywood studio parking lot, and what later would become the West Hollywood Gateway shopping center. Due to concerted citizen and preservationist efforts, the restaurant was preserved in its present location as a landmark. The cuisine served at Formosa is predominantly Chinese-influenced, with Beijing Chicken,
Mongolian beef Mongolian beef is a dish from Taiwan consisting of sliced beef, typically flank steak, usually made with onions. The beef is commonly paired with scallions or mixed vegetables and is often not spicy. The dish is often served over steamed rice, ...
,
wasabi Wasabi (Japanese: , , or , ; ''Eutrema japonicum'' or ''Wasabia japonica'') or Japanese horseradish is a plant of the family Brassicaceae, which also includes horseradish and mustard in other genera. The plant is native to Japan and the Russian ...
mashed potatoes,
bok choy Bok choy (American English, Canadian English, and Australian English), pak choi (British English) or pok choi (''Brassica rapa'' subsp. ''chinensis'') is a type of Chinese cabbage, used as food. ''Chinensis'' varieties do not form heads and have ...
and mushrooms, pork belly skewers, Formosa Caesar salad, etc. Celebrities continued to frequent the establishment throughout its history. In 2004, the historic restaurant was dwarfed by the
West Hollywood Gateway The West Hollywood Gateway is a two-level urban vertical retail power center in West Hollywood, California. It was developed by the JH Snyder Company and designed by architect Jon Jerde, located on the southwest corner Santa Monica Blvd. and La Br ...
shopping mall which was built to its immediate east, occupying the entire southeast corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and North La Brea Avenue. In 2015, the restaurant's original red-and-black 1940s interiors were gutted and a "modern" interior was installed, despite clientele who enjoyed the nostalgic ambience. After negative reactions to the change, much of the original interior was rebuilt. Less than 18 months after the gutting, just before Christmas of 2016, the Formosa Cafe closed without advance notice. In June 2017, ''The Los Angeles Times'' announced that the café would reopen with a new operator, the 1933 Group.''"Legendary Formosa Café in West Hollywood to Re-Open with New Operator"'' By Roger Vincent, ''The Los Angeles Times'', June 5, 2017.
/ref> July 2021 Formosa is open again for drinks and dining.


In popular culture

The interior and exterior of the Formosa Cafe can be seen in two key sequences in the 1997 movie ''
L.A. Confidential ''L.A. Confidential'' (1990) is a neo-noir novel by James Ellroy and the third of his L.A. Quartet series. It is dedicated to Mary Doherty Ellroy. The epigraph is "A glory that costs everything and means nothing"— Steve Erickson. Plot The s ...
,'' set in early 1950s Los Angeles. Other productions that have used the café include '' Swingers'' (1996), '' Still Breathing'' (1998), '' The Majestic'' (2001), and episodes of the television series '' Bosch,'' "Blood Under the Bridge", and ''
Euphoria Euphoria ( ) is the experience (or affect) of pleasure or excitement and intense feelings of well-being and happiness. Certain natural rewards and social activities, such as aerobic exercise, laughter, listening to or making music and da ...
,'' "A Thousand Little Trees of Blood".


References

{{Authority control Restaurants established in 1925 Chinese restaurants in the United States Restaurants in West Hollywood, California Landmarks in Los Angeles County, California Asian restaurants in California