Canter's Delicatessen (a favorite hangout of the newsfromme staff) revamped its classic menu a few years ago, adding a bunch of new items. One of the few deletions was the Billy Gray's Band Box Special, a sandwich that was probably about the same size as Billy Gray's Band Box.
Its inclusion on the Canter's menu caused many a diner to wonder, "What the heck is or was Billy Gray's Band Box?" A waitress there once told someone who asked at my table that it was the restaurant next door to Canter's and that years ago, the Canter family bought it, knocked out a wall and expanded into it. This is not true.
Billy Gray's Band Box was a nightclub about a block and half south of Canter's on Fairfax. At first it was a jazz club then it became a comedian's paradise…and a prototype for The Comedy Store, which in turn has been the model for hundreds if not thousands of other establishments. My pal Kliph Nesteroff, who is becoming the Doris Kearns Goodwin of comedians from the fifties and sixties, has been researching the place for some time.
Some time ago, he sent me an ad for it giving its address — 123 N. Fairfax — and I stared at it for long minutes, trying to figure out what's there now. That address was so familiar, I thought, that I should know. Finally, I gave up and went to Google Maps where I found out why it was so familiar: It's now more or less the parking lot for the Wells Fargo Bank where I used to have an account.
Kliph has a book coming out next year that we await with great interest. An excerpt from it covering the history of Billy Gray's Band Box can be read here and I highly recommend it.
In the piece, you'll also see Kliph mention two different locations for a night club called Slapsy Maxie's. One was 7165 Beverly Boulevard, which is where the Beverly Cinema is now located. I've written here in the past about going to the Beverly Cinema.
The later Slapsy Maxie's was at 5665 Wilshire Boulevard which is now the Office Depot where I buy most of the office supplies I don't buy online. Before that, that was the address of a Van DeKamp's bakery and coffee shop. In 1969, the second time I ever took a girl on a date, we went there for dinner and then we went to the Ivar Theater in Hollywood where we saw the closing performance of the L.A. company of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown starring Gary Burghoff. It was a great show but looking at the photo I just linked to of when it was Slapsy Maxie's, I kinda wish it had still been that place and Spike Jones was still playing there.