Formosa Café
In 1925, ex-prizefighter Jimmy Bernstein re-purposed an old red trolley car into a lunch counter, opening the Red Spot across from the bustling United Artists Studio in West Hollywood. The place was a success and he added on a kitchen, dining room and bar. The establishment’s name changed to the Formosa Café in 1939. In the early 1940s, he hired Lem Quon as his chef, who cooked up comforting yet greasy Cantonese food. Stars like Frank Sinatra, Humphrey Bogart, James Dean, and John Wayne were regulars. Ava Gardner had her own booth. In 1991, a grassroots group of patrons including Bono of U2, thwarted an effort by Warner Brothers to turn the site into an employee parking lot. The cafe closed in 2016 following an unpopular redesign. The 1933 Group restored the interior and reopened the Formosa in 2019.
West Hollywood, Los Angeles County
Images by Andrew Schmidt