Its My Life . I've Lived it • I Love it • Criticism Be Damned

coinsarefun

Now that I have your attention I thought this Merchant card needs its own thread.........
So, if you let me walk you down a little bit of old Hollywood and Beverly Hills.

I first seen this advertising token years ago but, have never been able to find one in nice shape. Aluminum. 38mm.
It was for a Cocktail Lounge and restaurant in the 1940's. They are closed now. It is down the street from Cedars Sinai. Just happens to be the hospital where I received my second kidney transplant. Needless to say this is in some prime property location.

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House of Murphy – cocktail lounge at 410 S. San Vicente Blvd. 1940s. Their slogan was “It’s my life…I live it…I love it…criticism be damned.” The House of Murphy was a nightclub as well as a restaurant, and specialized in corned beef and cabbage. It was owned by Bob Murphy, an actor who had been a “singing emcee” in vaudeville and also had some work in the movies. He also owned Murphy’s Cellar in NYC. He died in 1948, but the restaurant continued in business.

As listed in the ‘Los Angeles Guide, 1941’ : “House of Murphy, 4th St at La Cienega Boulevard. The a la carte entrée is a complete meal. Cornbeef and cabbage cooked in an old-fashioned dish style. Master of ceremonies Bob Murphy provides impromptu entertainment and the crowd chimes in.”

The link here for above paragraphs of information
https://martinturnbull.com/hollywood-places/places-e-to-k/

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Some great pic's of the "joint"

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Menu.............check out the prices!!!
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Postcard
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Look inside
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johnny9434

Pot roast $2.50 now I'm hungry 😋

Namvet69

Love the huge Gruen clock billboard on the roof. Lobster thermidor makes my mouth water. Peace Roy

hchcoin

Great stuff!

DCW

Lovely read! Well written, Stef.
The token is just fantastic! I've never seen that one before.

kaz

Great stuff! Love the menu cover, a play on Salome' with the owner's head on a plate! hilarious.

MidLifeCrisis

Excellent!

Smudge

Gotta love those prices.

conrad99

Oh, for the days you could just eat whatever you want and no one had a second thought about it. Also, I like the post card.

Glen2022

a couple of menus now being offered on eBay starting $85 plus shipping.

Catbert

Really cool Stef! Love the headline and token. We all need some of that 'tude!

U1chicago

Very neat!

NumisOxide

So cool!! I've never seen one of those before either.

pursuitofliberty

You always have some of the coolest posts (and tokens and coins to go with them)!

I also love the attitude. Speaks to many of us I'm sure.

Thanks for sharing Stef!!

RobertScotLover

I am from L.A. and that restaurant is still standing, just called something else. Still a restaurant, just cannot remember the name, but its popular and well known.

coinsarefun

@RobertScotLover said:
I am from L.A. and that restaurant is still standing, just called something else. Still a restaurant, just cannot remember the name, but its popular and well known.

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I lived there for 35 years and only remember seeing the structure in the late 90’s. I didn’t know they were still open as something else. Could it be a different address.?

Here’s a link to Google maps for the address.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/410+S+San+Vicente+Blvd,+Los+Angeles,+CA+90048/@34.0711626,-118.3761326,3a,86.7y,67.1h,83.26t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1srL1s18f9Fcj3zrv9DI4EaA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!4m17!1m9!3m8!1s0x80c2b94c059d3ce9:0x719e7d15820cb680!2s410+S+San+Vicente+Blvd,+Los+Angeles,+CA+90048!3b1!8m2!3d34.0713315!4d-118.3759576!10e5!16s/g/11c891qbb8!3m6!1s0x80c2b94c059d3ce9:0x719e7d15820cb680!8m2!3d34.0713315!4d-118.3759576!10e5!16s/g/11c891qbb8?hl=en-us&entry=ttu

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Screenshot.

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Cocoinut

Interesting token, and the menu has my mouth watering. In case you're wondering, the following article from the November 17, 1941 issue of Life magazine states that their average reader had an annual income of $2,500. Inflation was an issue back then, as shown in the comparison of the prices of some food staples compared to 2 years earlier. A dinner at the House of Murphy would have been an extravagance for many people.

OldIndianNutKase

I love this post Stef. Cool token that takes us back to another era. My best memories of California only go back to the 50's in Long Beach.

Lazybones

Love it!

1630Boston

ricko

@coinsarefun.... Great post Stef.... Neat token, will have to look for one of those. I am not a token collector, but that has a great message. Cheers, RickO

1630Boston

Great post, great history, great token
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Catbert

If that's a depiction of Murphy on the obverse, then I'd say he was well fed!

1630Boston

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Can't have an ash tray without matches
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FrankH

There was a House of Murphy in Stockton, CA. Ate there many times.

Now if you look closely, you will see it is House of E.J. Murphy.
No idea if it was an intentional copying or what, but Stockton was home to a plethora of fine dining.

1630Boston

The 'cover' in the OP was done by Henry O'hara Clive, quite a talented artist.
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Henry Clive (October 3, 1883–December 12, 1960) was an Australian-born American graphic artist and illustrator. Clive is known particularly for his illustrations in The American Weekly and cover series, which were posed for by screen celebrities.
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Sketch of Clive, 1911

Sultana by Henry Clive

1933 Photograph of Henry Clive Painting Actress Alice White

coinhack

So fun. Best post of the week!

asheland

Awesome stuff!

Barberian

Murphy looks like George Conway.

crazyhounddog

Very, very cool😎👍

Custerlost

I remember Sultana from high school. She was in the class behind ours.

Smudge

Sultana has a Max Parris look about it.

mr1931S

Corned beef and cabbage

Paradisefound

❤️ Thank you Steph for sharing a personal story.
I love the little bird on his curls 🤔

BuffaloIronTail

I didn't notice the bird till you pointed it out, PF.

Pete

Lakesammman

Great post and read - Murphy sure looked prosperous ......

joeykoins

Awesome dudette!
Now, you have me fired up to search for that token.
❤ 😎
Across from Wrigley Field, in Chicago.
There is a long establishment called, "Murphys".
Could there be a connection?

coinsarefun

Thank you so much everyone for you kind comments. I have another interesting one coming soon!

tokenpro

For those of you now seeking an example of the Murphy token you should not find the search to be overly difficult (other than competing against each other). The token is listed as Los Angeles K-502 in the Kappen catalog of California trade tokens, still the standard catalog for that state. While the values in the catalog are out of date they still carry relative consistency to each other. The Murphy token carries a $3.00 catalog value compared to $35.00 cat values for better saloon tokens or scarce towns (which were already very undervalued when the catalog came out). Translated to a rarity scale it would be a R-2 or R-3 on a R-1 to R-10 (unique) scale.