Schwab's Drug Store
Encyclopedia
Schwab's Pharmacy was a drug store located at 8024 Sunset Boulevard
in Hollywood, California, and was a popular hangout for movie actors and movie industry dealmakers from the 1930s through the 1950s. Like many drug stores in the United States
throughout the mid-twentieth century, Schwab's sold medicines and had a counter serving ice cream
dishes and light meals.
Schwab's closed its doors in October 1983. Five years later, on October 6, 1988, Schwab's was demolished to make way for a shopping complex and multiplex theater.
as a setting where the lead character, down-on-his-luck screenwriter Joe Gillis, ran into friends in the movie industry. For filming convenience, director Billy Wilder
had the store's interior duplicated on the lot of Paramount Pictures
. In an episode of I Love Lucy
, when Lucy visits California while Ricky is making a movie, she announces that she is going down to Schwab's Drug Store to be discovered.
Schwab's is mentioned in connection with classic Hollywood glamor in Tom Waits
's song "Invitation to the Blues," released in his album Small Change
in 1976:
"And you feel just like Cagney,
She looks like Rita Hayworth,
At the counter of the Schwab's drug store."
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is a street in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Palisades...
in Hollywood, California, and was a popular hangout for movie actors and movie industry dealmakers from the 1930s through the 1950s. Like many drug stores in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
throughout the mid-twentieth century, Schwab's sold medicines and had a counter serving ice cream
Ice cream
Ice cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavours. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other sweeteners...
dishes and light meals.
Schwab's closed its doors in October 1983. Five years later, on October 6, 1988, Schwab's was demolished to make way for a shopping complex and multiplex theater.
In popular culture
The exterior of Schwab's is featured in the film Sunset BoulevardSunset Boulevard (film)
Sunset Boulevard is a 1950 American film noir directed and co-written by Billy Wilder, and produced and co-written by Charles Brackett...
as a setting where the lead character, down-on-his-luck screenwriter Joe Gillis, ran into friends in the movie industry. For filming convenience, director Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder was an Austro-Hungarian born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age...
had the store's interior duplicated on the lot of Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
. In an episode of I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...
, when Lucy visits California while Ricky is making a movie, she announces that she is going down to Schwab's Drug Store to be discovered.
Schwab's is mentioned in connection with classic Hollywood glamor in Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
's song "Invitation to the Blues," released in his album Small Change
Small Change
Small Change is an album by Tom Waits, released in 1976 on Asylum Records. It was recorded in July 1976.-Production:Small Change was recorded, direct to 2-track stereo tape, July 15,19,20,21, and 29, 1976 at the Wally Heider Recording Studio, in Hollywood, USA under the production of Bones...
in 1976:
"And you feel just like Cagney,
She looks like Rita Hayworth,
At the counter of the Schwab's drug store."