ONCE IN FASHION, THE BROWN DERBY BECAME OLD HAT

In its 50-year heyday, the Brown Derby was where Hollywood hung its hat, The all-night eatery was as sublime as the top-grade, top-dollar caviar it spooned out, and as proudly low-brow as its buck-a-burger. The first Brown Derby opened on Wilshire Boulevard in 1926, across from the Ambassador Hotel. The Derby was where Clark Gable proposed to Carole Lombard. Lucille Ball and Jack Benny lunched on Cobb salads, invented on the premises and named for the owner, Robert Cobb. Today, only the stories of film legends remain as the last of the restaurant's four former locations faces the wrecking ball.