Schwab's Drug Store

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Schwab's Drug Store, formerly located at 8024 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California, was the meeting place of movie actors and dealmakers from the 1930s through the 1950s. Insiders referred to it as "headquarters". Typical of many drug stores in the United States in that period, the store sold medicines and had a counter serving ice cream dishes and light meals. Hollywood legend holds that Lana Turner was discovered there, although most sources say the event actually occurred at a malt shop about a mile away.

The business claimed as the real location of Lana Turner's discovery was the Top Hat Cafe, located at 6750 Sunset Blvd., down the street from Hollywood High School.

The story goes that as a 16-year-old student at Hollywood High School, Turner decided to skip a typing class and buy a Coke at the Top Hat Cafe. There, she was spotted by William R. Wilkerson, publisher of the Hollywood Reporter. Wilkerson was struck by her beauty and physique, and referred her to the actor/comedian/talent agent Zeppo Marx. Marx's agency immediately signed her on and introduced her to film director Mervyn LeRoy, who cast her in her first film, They Won't Forget (1937).

Schwab's had a relatively important role in the film Sunset Boulevard. Down-on-his-luck screenwriter Joe Gillis frequented the drug store to commiserate with other other unemployed movie types, ply friends for money, call his agent and, later, visits on a fateful New Year's Eve.

Schwab's closed its doors on October 22, 1983. Five years later, on October 6, 1988, Schwab's fell to the wrecking ball to make way for a shopping complex and multiplex theater.