Sportsmen's Lodge
Encyclopedia
Ventura Boulevard
Ventura Boulevard is one of the primary east–west thouroughfares in the San Fernando Valley, USA; as it was originally a part of the El Camino Real , Ventura Boulevard is one of the oldest routes in the San Fernando Valley. It was also U.S...
in Studio City, Los Angeles, California
Studio City, Los Angeles, California
Studio City is an affluent residential neighborhood within the City of Los Angeles, California in the San Fernando Valley. Studio City expands over four ZIP code areas: 91604 and sections of 91602, 91607 and 90210....
. Operating under various names (including "Hollywood Trout Farms") since the 1880s, the Sportsmen's Lodge is a San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
landmark and remains a popular spot for celebrations, dinners and public events. Located in the heart of the Valley's studio district, the Sportsmen's Lodge was a popular gathering spot for cast and crew in old Hollywood, including Clark Gable
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh...
, Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
, John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
, Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
, Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall is an American film and stage actress and model, known for her distinctive husky voice and sultry looks.She first emerged as leading lady in the Humphrey Bogart film To Have And Have Not and continued on in the film noir genre, with appearances in The Big Sleep and Dark Passage ,...
, Spencer Tracy
Spencer Tracy
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 75 films from 1930 to 1967. Tracy was one of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, ranking among the top ten box office draws for almost every year from 1938 to 1951...
and Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
.
Early days
The original Sportsmen's Lodge opened in the 1880s before the movie business existed and before Studio City had its name. A history of Studio City published by the Studio City Sun describes the Lodge as an "enduring symbol of lost rural Valley life." The Sun notes that the site has had many owners since the 1880s but was "always a geographic crossroads for travelers because of its proximity to the riverLos Angeles River
The Los Angeles River is a river that starts in the San Fernando Valley, in the Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains, and flows through Los Angeles County, California, from Canoga Park in the western end of the San Fernando Valley, nearly southeast to its mouth in Long Beach...
, the canyons, and watering holes created by a natural artesian spring." In the days before freeways were built across the Valley, "all traffic passed along Ventura
Ventura Boulevard
Ventura Boulevard is one of the primary east–west thouroughfares in the San Fernando Valley, USA; as it was originally a part of the El Camino Real , Ventura Boulevard is one of the oldest routes in the San Fernando Valley. It was also U.S...
’s two dirt lanes in the sparsely populated Valley, and 'when people were starting to take road trip
Road trip
A road trip is any journey taken on roads, regardless of stops en route. Typically, road trips are long distances traveled by automobile.-Pre-automobile road trips:...
s, this was an oasis
Oasis
In geography, an oasis or cienega is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source...
at the end of the road.'"
In the first half of the 20th Century, the Sportsmen's Lodge was known for its trout
Trout
Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...
-fishing lake where families came to catch and eat their own dinners, cooked courtesy of the lodge's restaurant. In the 1910s, the Lodge was called "Hollywood Trout Farms" and was described as "a ramshackle collection of huts." The ponds were augmented with man-made lakes in the 1920s, and fish were grown and delivered as far as Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
and San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo, California
San Luis Obispo is a city in California, located roughly midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles on the Central Coast. Founded in 1772 by Spanish Fr. Junipero Serra, San Luis Obispo is one of California’s oldest communities...
. From the late 1930s until the end of World War II, it was known as "Trout Lakes".
Hollywood hangout
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
, Gene Autry
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...
, Rex Allen
Rex Allen
Rex Elvie Allen was an American film actor, singer and songwriter, known as the Arizona Cowboy, particularly known as the narrator in many Disney nature and Western film productions. For contributions to the recording industry, Allen was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.-Family...
, and Roy Rogers
Roy Rogers
Roy Rogers, born Leonard Franklin Slye , was an American singer and cowboy actor, one of the most heavily marketed and merchandised stars of his era, as well as being the namesake of the Roy Rogers Restaurants franchised chain...
, became stars at Republic. Movie posters signed by Hollywood cowboys who stayed there still hang on the walls of the Lodge's coffee shop. Some of Hollywood's remaining silver screen cowboys still gather at the Sportsmen's Lodge for the annual Golden Boot and Silver Spur Awards.
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh...
, Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
, Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
and John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
are reported to have taught their kids how to fish at the Lodge's trout ponds. According to one account, the Lodge's trout ponds "drew luminaries such as Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Brockman Bankhead was an award-winning American actress of the stage and screen, talk-show host, and bonne vivante...
, Lena Horne
Lena Horne
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer.Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the...
, Bette Davis, and Joan Blondell
Joan Blondell
Rose Joan Blondell was an American actress who performed in movies and on television for five decades as Joan Blondell.After winning a beauty pageant, Blondell embarked upon a film career...
, who baited hooks with liverwurst
Liverwurst
The German , that translates literally as "liver sausage," is the typical sausage served in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and Romania . Liverwurst normally contains pigs' livers, rather than calves' livers and also contains veal...
and drank martinis as waiters served dinner on white tablecloths. When celebrities such as Clark Gable frequented the Lodge, rates were $9 for a single room and $25 for a suite.
A small pier adjacent to the restaurant catered to celebrities who worked in nearby studios. The pier was said to be Clark Gable's favorite fishing spot, and Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall is an American film and stage actress and model, known for her distinctive husky voice and sultry looks.She first emerged as leading lady in the Humphrey Bogart film To Have And Have Not and continued on in the film noir genre, with appearances in The Big Sleep and Dark Passage ,...
were regulars.
Syndicated entertainment columnist Ron Miller wrote that the "venerable" Sportsmen's Lodge was his favorite Valley hangout. Miller wrote about the old days at the Lodge when character actor, Jack Elam
Jack Elam
William Scott "Jack" Elam was an American film actor best known for his numerous roles as villains in Western films and, later in his career, comedies .-Early life:...
, had a luxury suite on the top floor while working on the movie "Easy Street". Miller recalled that Elam was a drinking man and "mornings were not his best time." On one occasion, Elam walked into the Lodge's coffee shop with a bewildered look on his face. "He'd forgotten where he'd parked his car the night before because he'd had a snootful. I remember him telling the waitresses he was pretty sure it was parked, 'Somewhere in the valley.'" According to Miller, the "well-seasoned" waitress coddled Elam through breakfast and assured him: "That's all right, Darlin'. We'll help you find it after breakfast. Now you'd better eat something, Jack."
As the San Fernando Valley grew in the years after World War II, the urban sprawl sprung up around the Sportsmen's Lodge and its trout fishing lakes. In 1962, the modern Sportsmen's Lodge Hotel was built adjacent to the original lodge. When the hotel was built, the lakes became home to a family of swans and some of the Valley's first fine dining establishments, frequented by legendary Hollywood stars.
According to the Studio City Sun, the Los Angeles Health Department ended the era of fishing at the Lodge when the 1971 San Fernando earthquake diverted the natural spring.
Connections to the entertainment business
Spencer Tracy
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 75 films from 1930 to 1967. Tracy was one of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, ranking among the top ten box office draws for almost every year from 1938 to 1951...
and Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
were visitors, and former Beach Boy Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson
Brian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...
reportedly likes to lounge by the Olympic pool. Other celebrities known to have stayed or hung out at the Sportmen's Lodge include Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
, Doris Day
Doris Day
Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
, Gene Autry
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...
, Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw
Samuel Timothy "Tim" McGraw is an American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts with total album sales in excess of 40 million units in the US, making him the eighth best-selling artist, and the third best-selling country singer, in the...
, David Lee Roth
David Lee Roth
David Lee Roth is an American rock vocalist, songwriter, actor, author, and former radio personality. Roth was ranked nineteenth by Hit Parader on their list of the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Singers of All Time....
, Billy Bob Thornton
Billy Bob Thornton
Billy Bob Thornton is an American actor, screenwriter, director and musician. Thornton gained early recognition as a cast member on the CBS sitcom Hearts Afire and in several early 1990s films including On Deadly Ground and Tombstone...
, Randy Travis
Randy Travis
Randy Travis is an American country music singer and actor. Since 1985, he has recorded 20 studio albums and charted more than 30 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, 22 of which were number one hits...
, and Trisha Yearwood
Trisha Yearwood
Patricia Lynn Yearwood, professionally known as Trisha Yearwood , is an American country music artist. She is best known for her ballads about vulnerable young women from a female perspective that have been described by some music critics as "strong" and "confident."Trisha Yearwood signed with MCA...
.
For several years, noted salsa promoter Albert Torres
Albert Torres
Albert Torres Barceló is a Spanish track and road racing cyclist.-Palmarès:2007200820092010-References:*...
operated a salsa club at the Sportsmen's Lodge that was frequented by celebrities including Vanessa L. Williams
Vanessa L. Williams
Vanessa Lynn Williams is an American pop-R&B recording artist, producer, dancer, model, actress and showgirl. In 1983, she became the first woman of African-American descent to be crowned Miss America, but a scandal generated by her having posed for nude photographs published in Penthouse magazine...
and Randa Haines
Randa Haines
Randa Haines is a film and television director and producer. She is perhaps most famous for directing the critically acclaimed feature film Children of a Lesser God , which starred William Hurt and Marlee Matlin, for which Matlin won the 1987 Academy Award as best actress...
.
Politics at the Sportsmen's Lodge
2000 Democratic National Convention
The 2000 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial presidential nominating convention for the Democratic Party. The convention nominated Vice President Al Gore as its candidate for President and Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman as its candidate for Vice President. The convention was held at...
, the delegations from the States of New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
and Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
stayed at the Sportsmen's Lodge.
The Sportsmen's Lodge in recent years
The Sportsmen's Lodge remains a popular location for events, dining and lodging. Motion pictures and TV shows are occasionally shot around the waterfalls, lagoons, lily ponds, swans and gazebos, and recording stars and their entire road crews regularly stay. One writer recently noted of the Lodge: "It's unexpected, finding a mountain chalet bar complete with massive stone fireplace, antique wooden snow-skis, log-beamed ceilings, and moose antlers here in the midst of strip malls and suburbia. But this is Hollywood's back yard, why not enjoy a hunting lodge right off Ventura BoulevardVentura Boulevard
Ventura Boulevard is one of the primary east–west thouroughfares in the San Fernando Valley, USA; as it was originally a part of the El Camino Real , Ventura Boulevard is one of the oldest routes in the San Fernando Valley. It was also U.S...
?"
According to Los Angeles City Search, the hotel "isn't nearly as fun as it once was, [but] it's still a peaceful place with lots of character." The hotel has undergone renovations, a process that one writer said "robbed it of some of its goofy charm." Nevertheless, the spacious rooms overlooking an Olympic-size heated pool in the courtyard, the old-fashioned Patio Cafe and neighboring Caribou restaurant and Muddy Moose Bar remain popular. LosAngeles.com says: "This contemporary Los Angeles hotel sits on 8 acres (32,374.9 m²) of gorgeous landscaped grounds, featuring waterfalls, California native plants and beautiful wildlife, including swans and other waterbirds. Tons of celebrities ... and top execs in the entertainment industry have frequented this luxurious Studio City hotel."
Stand Up comics Jimmy & Joey (Joey Sorece and Brian Figarol) have hosted and fostered a regular stand up comedy show on the Swan Patio every Friday and Saturday night since 2003. They have hosted Andrew "Dice" Clay and offer a venue for new and established comics to hone their craft and average forty comics per night.
JUSSTUSS, Brad St. James and Susi Q (aka the "New" Sonny and Cher) have been the in-house musical entertainment every Friday and Sunday night since 2005. They perform in the Muddy Moose for the likes of Trini Lopez, Bruce Campbell and Andy Dick.
Efforts to secure historical site designation
In the early 2000s, efforts were taken to secure protected historical status for the Sportsmen's Lodge. In 2002, the Studio City Residents Association, backed by the Los Angeles ConservancyLos Angeles Conservancy
The Los Angeles Conservancy is an historic preservation organization in Los Angeles, California. It works to document, rescue and revitalize historic buildings, places and neighborhoods in the city. The Conservancy is the largest membership based historic preservation organization in the country...
, submitted an application to designate the Lodge's banquet center as a Historic-Cultural Monument. The Conservancy featured the Sportsmen's Lodge as one of just a handful of docent-led stops on its driving tours of the San Fernando Valley—an event that attracted 1,000 tour-goers and won national media attention.
The Cultural Heritage Commission approved the historic designation and send it on to the Los Angeles City Council
Los Angeles City Council
The Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles.The Council is composed of fifteen members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The president of the council and the president pro tempore are chosen by the Council at the first regular meeting after...
. However, the proposal was opposed by City Councilman Jack Weiss
Jack Weiss
Jack Stephen Weiss is an American politician. He is a former member of the Los Angeles City Council representing the 5th district from 2001 to 2009. He previously served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Central District of California from 1994 to 2000...
, who said that "he does not know anyone who considers Sportsmens Lodge to be significant." The Conservancy responded to Weiss by noting that the Sportsmen's Lodge, "while not an architectural wonder, has long been considered a site that epitomizes the story of the San Fernando Valley itself -- as a site whose evolving uses, from rural to urban, mirrored the Valley's growth; as a roadside attraction to the Valley's vibrant automobile culture; as one of the Valley's earliest and most significant 'fine dining' locations; and as a site that has reflected this community's unique connection to the entertainment industry." Efforts to obtain some protected status for the Lodge are ongoing.