C.C. Brown's was an
ice cream parlor
Ice cream parlors (American English) or ice cream parlours (British English) are parlor that sell ice cream, gelato, sorbet, and/or frozen yogurt to consumers. Ice cream is typically sold as regular ice cream (also called hard-packed or hard- ...
that operated in
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood ...
, Los Angeles, California from 1929 to 1996. The shop claimed to have invented the hot fudge
sundae
A sundae (Sunday Ice) () is an ice cream frozen dessert of American origin that typically consists of one or more scoops of ice cream topped with a sweet sauce or syrup and other toppings such as sprinkles, whipped cream, marshmallows, chocola ...
and became popular with celebrity clientele. Their long list of famous customers included
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American actor often referred to as the "King of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". He appeared in more than 60 Film, motion pictures across a variety of Film genre, genres dur ...
,
Mary Pickford
Gladys Louise Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American film actress and producer. A Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood, pioneer in the American film industry with a Hollywood care ...
,
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, 190? was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway theatre, Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion-picture cont ...
,
Bob Hope
Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, actor, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared ...
,
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...
, and
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe ( ; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 August 4, 1962) was an American actress and model. Known for playing comic "Blonde stereotype#Blonde bombshell, blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex ...
.
Judy Garland
Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. Possessing a strong contralto voice, she was celebrated for her emotional depth and versatility across film, stage, and concert performance. ...
was once a waitress at the restaurant and
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Widely regarded as one of the greatest cinema actors of the 20th century,''Movies in American History: An Encyclopedia'' enjoyed sundaes in his limousine while his family ate inside. A thank you note from another regular,
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
, hung on the wall.
C.C. Brown's opened as a candy shop in 1929 in the Hillcrest Cadillac building at 7007 Hollywood Boulevard just west of
Grauman's Chinese Theater
Grauman's Chinese Theatre, known as the Chinese colloquially and officially billed as TCL Chinese Theatre for sponsorship reasons, is a movie palace on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United S ...
. The interior was decorated with flocked wallpaper, crystal chandeliers, high backed walnut booths, and mahogany tables brought from their original location in downtown Los Angeles. Employees wore white uniforms. Ice cream was served in metal goblets and sauces were presented warm in a small ceramic pitcher.
Founder Clifton Hibbard Brown learned candy making at his father Clarence Clifton (C.C.) Brown's downtown Los Angeles shop, which opened in 1906. The pair brought copper kettles and candy making equipment from their home in Ohio in a covered wagon. Clifton tinkered with chocolate sauce recipes for years and the shop served their first ice cream sundae in 1938. Other ice cream confections like the Lover’s Delight, the Buster Brown, and the Peter Pan were soon added to the menu, which also featured sandwiches and breakfast items. Clarence Clifton Brown died in 1943 at the age of 66.
John Schumacher, a chemist with the
Carnation (brand)
Carnation is a brand of food products. The brand was especially known for its evaporated milk product created in 1899, then called Carnation Sterilized Cream company, bought the business in 1963. He continued producing Brown's original recipes in the back kitchen and worked the counter, along with his wife and 8 children through the 1990s. Media attention picked up in the 1980s and food critic
Ruth Reichl
Ruth Reichl ( ; born 1948) is an American chef, food writer and editor. In addition to two decades as a food critic, mainly spent at the ''Los Angeles Times'' and ''The New York Times'', Reichl has also written cookbooks, memoirs and a novel, and ...
mused in 1983 that C.C. Brown's was "such a slide of small town Americana that you wonder whether you have somehow stumbled into some old Frank Capra movie set here in the heart of Hollywood." Business suffered due to the opening of
Häagen-Dazs
Häagen-Dazs ( , ) is an American ice cream brand, established by Reuben and Rose Mattus in the Bronx, New York, in 1960, owned by Froneri, a joint venture between Nestlé and PAI Partners. Starting with only three flavors: vanilla, chocolat ...
and
Ben & Jerry's
Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings Inc., trading and commonly known as Ben & Jerry's, is an American company that manufactures ice cream, frozen yogurt, and sorbet. Founded in 1978 in Burlington, Vermont, the company went from a single ice cream p ...
ice cream outlets nearby and the generally downtrodden condition of Hollywood Boulevard at the time.
Schumacher lived in
Calabasas
Calabasas may refer to:
* Calabasas, Arizona, former populated place in what is now Rio Rico, Arizona
* Calabasas, California, city in Los Angeles County, California
See also
* Calabaza
Calabaza is the generic name in the Spanish langua ...
, California and died at age 69 in 1994. His wife Jo Ellen ran the store for two more years but was tired of her 15-hour a day, six day a week schedule. "None of her eight children," she told ''The New York Times'', "wanted to take over." C.C. Brown's served up their last sundae on June 8, 1996. The closure was lamented by many in the community, including Hollywood Chamber of Commerce director Leron Gubler. "It's a shame to lose something with so much historic heritage," he told ''The New York Times'' in 1996. "At a time when Hollywood is on the verge of a major makeover."
Lawry's The Prime Rib currently serves the original C.C. Brown's Hot Fudge Sundae at all of their locations and sells jars of the sauce online.
The Hollywood location is now a souvenir shop called La La Land.
References
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{{Refend
Defunct restaurants in Hollywood, Los Angeles
Restaurants established in 1929
Commercial buildings in Los Angeles
Ice cream parlors in California
Restaurants in Greater Los Angeles
Companies based in Los Angeles County, California
Defunct ice cream parlors in the United States