Friars Club of Beverly Hills

The Friars Club of Beverly Hills (also known as the Friars Club of California) was a private show business club started in 1947 by comedian/actor Milton Berle, among other celebrities who had moved from New York. It was forced to change its name in 2007 after losing a lawsuit with the New York Friars' Club, and later closed. Its building, designed by modernist architect Sidney Eisenshtat, was demolished in 2011.

The modern history of the club began in 1947, when Milton Berle got a group together at the old Savoy Hotel on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, including actors Bing Crosby, Eddie Cantor, Jimmy Durante, George Jessel, and Robert Taylor. The Friars Club of California was originally established as a spinoff from the New York Friars' Club as a non-profit, membership only club. In 1961, the California club moved into a distinctive, almost windowless building at 9900 Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills designed by architect Sidney Eisenshtat. Past members included Lucille Ball, Jack Benny, George Burns, Johnny Carson, Billy Crystal, Sammy Davis, Jr., Judy Garland (the first woman ever roasted by the Friars' Club), Bob Hope, Al Jolson, Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, the Marx Brothers, and Frank Sinatra, among many others. Like the New York club, for many years the Friars Club of Beverly Hills was known for its celebrity members and "roasts".

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