Café Gala 

Perched on a sloping lot above street level in a former Spanish-style residence, Café Gala was opened by John Walsh in September 1941 and gained a following among the Hollywood supper club crowd (1). One of the quieter nightspots on the Strip, it only had one brawl of note, in August 1948 when a rowdy patron, who earlier in the evening had shared a table with Shirley Temple and husband John Agar, refused to pay his check. James (Jim) Dolan, who had taken it over by that time, called the police. When reached for comment, Miss Temple said “I’m glad we left when we did.”

1941

1950

In 1957, Yeghishe Harout moved his popular Armenian cuisine restaurant, Har-Omar to this location from Ivar Street. It remained Har-Omar until 1965 when Harout sold both this and the old Ivar location (with its adjacent Ivar Theater).

1957 as Har-Omar.

Kavkaz Russian-Armenian restaurant moved in by 1969

8795 as Kavzak

Spago took over the space in 1982. It closed in 2001.

(1) Walsh also managed the Nevada Biltmore Hotel Casino in Las Vegas in the 1940s, when it was owned by Hollywood café man Bob Brooks; in the 1950s he was host at 9039 Sunset Blvd. when it operated as Deauville restaurant.