Mocambo
Mocambo neon sign, 1955.
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| Location | 8588 Sunset Boulevard West Hollywood, California United States |
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| Coordinates | 34°05′34″N 118°22′44″W / 34.092693°N 118.378963°WCoordinates: 34°05′34″N 118°22′44″W / 34.092693°N 118.378963°W |
| Owner | Charlie Morrison Felix Young |
| Type | Nightclub |
| Opened | January 3, 1941 |
| Closed | June 30, 1958 |
The Mocambo was a nightclub in West Hollywood, California, at 8588 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip. It was owned by Charlie Morrison and Felix Young.
The Mocambo opened on January 3, 1941, and became an immediate success. The club's Latin American-themed decor designed by Tony Duquette cost $100,000 (equivalent to $1,628,281 in 2016). Along the walls were glass cages holding live cockatoos, macaws, seagulls, pigeons, and parrots. With big band music, the club became one of the most popular dance-till-dawn spots in town. On any given night, one might find the room filled with the leading men and women of the motion picture industry.
In 1943, when Frank Sinatra became a solo act, he made his Los Angeles debut at the Mocambo.
On March 15, 1955Ella Fitzgerald opened at the Mocambo, after Marilyn Monroe lobbied the owner for the booking. The booking was instrumental in Fitzgerald's career. The incident was turned into a play by Bonnie Greer in 2005. It has been widely reported that Fitzgerald was the first Black performer to play the Mocambo, following Monroe's intervention, but this is not true. African-American singers Herb Jeffries, Eartha Kitt, and Joyce Bryant all played the Mocambo in 1953, according to stories published at the time in Jet magazine.
Among the many celebrities who frequented the Mocambo were Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall,Errol Flynn, Charlie Chaplin, Elizabeth Taylor, Judy Garland, Henry Fonda, Lana Turner, Ava Gardner, Bob Hope, James Cagney, Sophia Loren, Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner, Grace Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, Howard Hughes, Kay Francis, Marlene Dietrich, Theda Bara, Tyrone Power, Jayne Mansfield, John Wayne, Ben Blue, Ann Sothern, and Louis B. Mayer. Myrna Loy and Arthur Hornblow, Jr. celebrated their divorce there.
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