Today, the Comedy Story sits on the same spot and has for over twenty years. In it’s earlier incarnation it was Ciro’s, and it was for a time the center of the entertainment universe.

When Herman Hover became manager of Ciro’s in 1942, he made it into a destination nightspot for the best talent in the world. In 1950, it launched the career of a comedy team that would rise to superstardom together and separately in Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. A year later an opening act called the Will Mastin Trio would tear down the house and leave the headliner that night–Janis Page–in the dust. The Trio itself would become the answer to a trivia question when one of its members left to become one of the biggest stars on the planet–a young singer/dancer/comic named Sammy Davis, Jr.

The audience at Ciro’s was frequently more star packed than the stages at most venues. The clientele represented the very top of the entertainment world starting with Frank Sinatra and Humphrey Bogart and all of their “A-list” contemporaries including Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, Judy Garland, Jack Benny and countless others. Ciro’s was the “in” spot for stars and would be stars, making it the hottest ticket in town.

During a more civilized time, a network of top nightclubs hosted entertainment, drinking, dining and other hijinx in the major cities of the US. Ciro’s was among this elite group of nightspots dating back to the early 1940’s when the icons of that era including Bogart, Jimmy Cagney, Lauren Bacall and George Raft would frequent the place. It started to ‘cool off’ and by 1942 was forced to close its doors for a time. It didn’t stay closed for long, as Herman Hoover implemented his plan to re-open and revitalize the nightspot.

Hoover, who had a background in running a nightclub”he was lured away from Columbia Universitys Law School by the potent mix of wiseguys and chorus girls at New Yorks Silver Slipper, which was a prohibition era joint owned by Arnold Rothstein and Charles Lucky Luciano among others. Hoover became a fixture at the club, along with Harlems Cotton Club before moving to Los Angeles in 1936.

On December 26, 1942 Ciro’s re-opened to a packed house including Frank Sinatra, Mickey Rooney, Lucille Ball and Cary Grant. The headliner on opening night was Sinatra’s longtime friend and opening act, comic Joe E. Louis.

In 1949, Hoover hosted Dean Martin’s second wedding at the club and Martin and Lewis debuted at Ciro’s a year later. Before long, they were among the biggest stars in the world but always remained indebted to Hoover for their big break. Even when they were making an at the time unprecedented $100,000 a week to perform they insisted that Hoover pay them their original salary for their first gig at Ciro’s–$7000 a week. Sammy Davis, Jr. got his start at Ciro’s and returned to the stage after his mid 1950’s car accident in what may have been the biggest event ever at the club. After an emotional introduction by Frank Sinatra, Davis tore down the house with a scorching performance.

Ironically, the growth of the desert gambling oasis to the east would eventually spell the end for Ciro’s and the nightclub circuit nationwide. Las Vegas simply had the money, connections and amenities to lure away the best talent to play in its showrooms. Headliners didn’t have to travel to earn a tidy sum as casino headliners, and they were able to live the showbiz life 24 hours a day in “Paris in the Desert.” Eventually Ciro’s closed its doors in 1957 and was sold at a public auction two years later.

It also represented the end of an era in Los Angeles. Sunset Boulevard remained a vital commercial artery, but the glamorous strip of adult entertainment that became part of American mythology gave way to a tacky mishmash of restaurants, strip clubs, and tattoo parlors intermingled with more upscale businesses. Although another revolution would emerge from Sunset Boulevard”a culinary superstar named Wolfgang Puck, and his restaurant Spago”the world became a little less civilized with the passing of Ciros. The building has been the Comedy Store for the past 26 years, and has started its own crop of stars along the path to fame.