On October 17, 1989, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley joined the cavalcade of bulldozers in a ceremonial groundbreaking for the expansion of the Convention Center. “A few shovels of dirt didn’t seem right,” one official told a reporter, explaining why bulldozers were chosen over the usual ceremonial shovel. The groundbreaking festivities were followed by a catered lunch for 300.
This October ceremony was commemorating the expansion of the Los Angeles Convention Center. In hopes of competing with cities like New York, Chicago and Las Vegas, Los Angeles officials argued that the city’s 1971 convention facilities needed a huge upgrade in order to attract the larger trade shows and conventions. Ultimately this expansion swallowed up about 35 acres between Pico Blvd and Venice Blvd, Figueroa Street and the 110 Freeway and required the removal of approximately 400 families, 1,500 individuals and 60 businesses.
One of those businesses was the now-gone Turner Inn Hofbrau restaurant located at 645 15th Street, near Figueroa. For about four decades, this place cultivated a festive old world atmosphere that inspired restaurant critics to write reviews like “They literally roll out the barrel of fun at this Los Angeles landmark” (1982). And “Where can you go and have one of the most entertaining evenings of your life? Turner Inn Hofbrau is the answer” (1961).
In its heyday, this place served as one of those unofficial civic spaces, as so many municipal organizations and local clubs held their meetings, installation of officers, and banquets in these huge rooms covered in Bavarian murals (e.g. the Traffic Queen of National Transportation Week 1961 was crowned here 👑). Families celebrated weddings, anniversaries, birthdays and graduations as oompah music played in the background. For its Oktoberfest celebrations in the 1960s, the restaurant often shut down its 15th Street block for dancing, drinking & general merriment.
No doubt, much of this merriment was due in part to the enthusiastic co-owner-impresario-bandleader John Martin Meloch, born in Hamburg as Johannes Martin August Bruno Meloch. Often performing with his kadiddelhopper, this ringleader orchestrated the nightly festivities that included polka lessons, sing-a-longs and a type of German Bingo. One 1960s menu insisted, “When your host John Meloch says ’SING’ you better sing. For if you don’t, just a slight tap on the shoulder and you’re stuck for a round of drinks on your table.”
I definitely fell down the John Meloch rabbit hole as he appears quite the hustler, adept at garnering publicity for his German-themed restaurant and band. When the restaurant was closed for renovations, he and his band performed at the Statler Hotel, the Jonathan Club and El Mirador in Palm Springs. He and his Hofbrau orchestra traveled to the San Gabriel Valley and La Cresenta to perform at various Bavarian festivals. He even secured a broadcast deal in which the restaurant’s Saturday night show was aired weekly on Channel 9. He seemed to know how to keep his name and his restaurant in the newspapers. Meloch retired from the Turner Inn Hofbrau in 1977 and unfortunately died the following year. Accordion-playing Peter Teichmann then took over, as he too had a history of performing German music in Los Angeles.
When it became clear that the beloved landmark was in the path of the Convention Center expansion, Hofbrau owner Peter Teichmann began asking patrons to help save it. Relocating the business was considered, but Teichmann explained that no existing structure could fit all the activities and events that took place within the Turner Inn Hofbrau. By August 1988, he stopped asking for help. The restaurant closed its doors August 13, 1988. “It’s a sad for the city of L.A. I don’t think there’s another place like it in the U.S.,” Teichmann told the Herald Examiner. Despite his efforts, this cultural landmark was demolished in 1989.
I first learned about the Turner Inn Hofbrau from a silly exchange between me, Ethel Murphy and her lovely daughter (& dear friend) Deborah in 2018. Six years ago, I recorded Ethel’s oral history and this light-hearted 40-second bit took place as we wrapped up the more serious parts of our audio interview:
From there, I fell down the Turner Inn Hofbrau rabbit hole … well, more like the 15th Street rabbit hole as the Bavarian restaurant sat right next to the Edward Strong mansion, a beautiful Victorian home declared an official Los Angeles landmark 50 years ago on November 17, 1976 (HCM No. 167). Both of these buildings had cameos in a 1980s episode of the TV show CHiPs.
As Ponch and Jon head to the Turner Inn Hofbrau, they park right in front of a beautiful Queen Anne home, then a 27-unit apartment building known as the Otsego Apartments. In 1988, it too was also under immediate threat of demolition.Fortunately, the structure was saved (and moved) at the last minute. A committee made up of representatives from the CRA, Los Angeles Conservancy, Cultural Heritage Commission, Mayor Tom Bradley’s office and Councilwoman Gloria Molina’s office had 180 days to find a way to relocate this 1887 landmark. And in 1989, this Victorian gem was hoisted onto a truck bed and moved to a LADWP site on S. Coronado Street, where it still stands hidden behind a few trees.
A shout out to 80s TV for freezing time on West 15th Street, documenting both the Turner Inn Hofbrau & the Edward Strong mansion before their sites were engulfed by the Convention Center.
Now I’m wondering what other historic properties were lost to this expansion. We know much more about the homes lost and people displaced from downtown’s Bunker Hill, but according to CRA’s Barbara Kaiser in the Los Angeles Times:
“‘The massive project is displacing more people than the Bunker Hill development of the 1960s’…other agency projects have affected several blocks at a time, ‘but we’ve never before taken 40 acres and just demolished it.’” [A later article notes it was about 35 acres.]
The particular 1988 article takes a positive tone and comments on the “surprising smoothness” of the relocation efforts thanks to the state relocation laws. But considering 1,500 people were forced to move, I have to wonder if that’s the full story. This is just Part 1 because there is more to tell.
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