It wasn’t unusual to see personalities like Frank Sinatra, Ava Garnder or Red Skelton at the Hollywood Ranch Market’s snack bar. Steve Allen used to broadcast his shows from his studio close by. Kim Novak was seen shopping there twice a week when she lived at the Studio Club which was very close by in 1955. This market was located at 1605 Vine Street and was open 24 hours a day. It was one of the few places where a person could cash a check. It had no doors, metal turnstiles and pinball machines. It became a bit grimier, (but in a good way) during the 1960s & 1970s. I saw a flash of it in an old Cassavettes movie recently. Sadly, the Ranch Market burned down in the early 80s. Today it's a strip mall - the title of the requiem for most of Los Angeles's treasure no longer with us.
One of the last photos of James Dean was taken across the street on that fateful afternoon in 1955. You can see the Hollywood Ranch Market in the distance.
After Steve Allen left NBC The Tonight Show, he had a TV show on ABC using a studio (1544 Vine Street) across the street from the Hollywood Ranch Market (1605 Vine Street). He did a lot of sketches and man-on-the-street interviews at that location. Comic Louis Nye as Arab. Story goes Steve Allen also used to hide speakers in the produce department and would start talking to people. I give him full credit for basically inventing the original "Candid Camera". Must have been hilarious watching people talk back to tomatoes.
Gene Wilder on location at The Hollywood Ranch Market on Vine with TV producer Lewis Freedman in 1972. He was making "The Scarecrow" at the time.
Exterior night view. The market's neon sign with a clock reads, "We never close" and "Shop around the clock."Sadly, they did.
Source: LAPL
Source: LAPL
In 2015 I presented original Ralph Story episodes from the 1960s at the Billy Wilder Theatre courtesy of UCLA Archives. One of the episodes features the Hollywood Ranch Market. DJ, Rodney Bingenheimer was in attendance and actually spotted himself in the footage! Great moment!