The Marquis Restaurant
Formerly the Colonial Drive-In, the Marquis, with its continental cuisine, offered upscale dining on the Sunset Strip by 1939. The top image also shows the Spanish-style 1927 Alta Mira apartments next door (8228 Sunset).
8240 Sunset Strip as the Colonial Drive-In, c. 1938. LAPL.
The restaurant was remodeled in a French-Norman style in 1953 on the same footprint, reopening September 15. In 1964 it was enlarged by architect Edward Farrell.
The Marquis reopening-9-15-1953. Owner Paul Verlengia later had the Lighted Tree restaurant on the Strip.
The 1953 French-Norman remodel of The Marquis, 8240 Sunset Blvd. George Mann photo. USC-digital.
J. H. Graham 
Was Paul Verlengia in the mob? Any information would be amazing. Thank you so much!
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Hi,
Not that I know of. His restaurants didn’t raise the usual red flags (high turnover, frequent raids, general chaos, etc). After running Marquis he had a restaurant at 7800-7810 Sunset, built between 1958-1959. He called it the Four Trees in 1960, and it ran without drama until his death, 1966. Real name was Francesco Paolo Verlengia but name change was typical, not (necessarily) suspicious.
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