The Players Restaurant

The Players opened on the Strip in 1940 as the pet project of Hollywood writer/director Preston Sturges. “The Playroom” was added in 1942, a theater with rotating stage in 1951.

1940s view of The Players. Chateau Marmont, 8221 Sunset Blvd., can be seen at right.

Like the nearby Schwab’s and Garden of Allah, The Players was popular with the movie crowd until it closed in 1953. The Imperial Gardens Japanese restaurant moved in here in 1959 from Wilshire Blvd. and remained well into the 1980s. The building still serves a restaurant, The Pink Taco.