The Daisy – Where O.J. Simpson and Nicole Brown Met

I love a good true-crime podcast.  One that recently got me hooked is Confronting: O.J. Simpson with Kim Goldman, which just finished its first season.  In it, the sister of murder victim Ronald Goldman interviews numerous key players in the so-called Trial of the Century, including jurors, prosecutors, witnesses and one of the defense team’s private investigators.  It is raw, real, heartbreaking and informative – I even learned a few new things about the case, which I didn’t think possible.  Listening also reminded me of a Simpson-related location that I stalked way back when but have yet to blog about – the former site of The Daisy in Beverly Hills.  It was at the tony members-only discotheque that O.J. first laid eyes on a young Nicole Brown, thereby setting off their turbulent 17-year relationship.  It is sobering to think that without The Daisy there would be no O.J. and Nicole, the events of June 12th, 1994 would not have occurred, and the cultural landscape of Los Angeles, nay the world, would be very different today.

The small brick building that housed The Daisy, which has long since been razed, was initially constructed as a private residence in 1941.  Just two years later, famed restauranteur and self-proclaimed Russian prince Michael Romanoff enlisted architect Douglas Honnold to transform the dwelling into his eponymous nightclub, Romanoff’s.  The lounge (you can see what it looked like here) would go on to become one of the best-known hot spots in Hollywood history.  An entire post could be dedicated to Romanoff’s, in fact, but since this piece is about The Daisy, I’ll keep my reporting on it scant.  The eatery’s patronage read like a Who’s Who of Tinseltown, with Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, Charlie Chaplin, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Jack Warner all counted as regulars.  In 1951, when Romanoff’s moved a few blocks away to 140 South Rodeo Drive (that'”‘”‘s where Sofia Loren was famously snapped gazing disdainfully at Jayne Mansfield’s décolletage – one of history'”‘”‘s most iconic images), its former home became the Friars Club.  That, too, relocated in 1961 and the following year The Daisy opened in its place.  It was the first members-only disco to exist in Beverly Hills.

Established by Jack Hanson, who was best known as the founder of Jax, a wildly popular Beverly Hills clothier that outfitted the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Jackie Kennedy, and Twiggy, The Daisy was a hit from the outset.  The Hollywood elite who patronized it had to shell out an initiation fee of $250 and membership was limited to 400.  The steep price tag did not curb the club’s popularity, which was packed to the gills most nights with such luminaries as Steve McQueen, Robert Redford, Sonny and Cher, Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Mia Farrow, Natalie Wood, Paul Newman, Grace Kelly, Bobby Darin, and Peter Sellers all dining, dancing, and playing pool on the premises.  The extensive menu even had dishes named after many of its famous regulars, from Ray Bradbury to Katherine Ross.   As Hanson told the press in 1977, “Seven nights a week for nearly 10 years, this place was filled with the biggest celebrities in the world.  I was king of the town.”

The Daisy was the site of countless historic events in pop culture, not a surprise considering its elite clientele.  Aaron Spelling met future wife Candy there in 1965, while they were both on dates with other people (she was doubling with Tina Sinatra and Sammy Hess).  In the winter of that same year, Frank Sinatra had a terse exchange with writer Harlan Ellison over a pair of boots, which journalist Gay Talese famously chronicled for Esquire magazine.  And it was at The Daisy that, on August 11th, 1969, Diana Ross introduced the Jackson 5 as Motown’s newest group.  The place truly is hallowed ground when it comes to Hollywood history.

The late ‘60s brought a decline in The Daisy’s patronage, largely thanks to newer clubs like The Factory which were popping up all over L.A., and it eventually closed in 1970.  At that point, Hanson rebranded the place into a health food restaurant/cabaret (where’s Luann de Lesseps when you need her?) that went by the same floral moniker.  The eatery didn’t last long, though, and in 1976, Bryan MacLean, a founding member of the rock group Love, leased it, opening a Christian nightclub on the premises.  Though initially popular, dancing was not allowed and alcohol was not served, and it, unsurprisingly, closed within a year.  So Hanson quickly took over the reins again, reopening The Daisy at the site.  This time initiation fees were $500, but, as before, the high fee did not deter customers.  It was not long before the club was hoppin'”‘”‘ once more.

In 1977, Nicole Brown, then 18 and fresh out of high school, landed a job as a waitress at The Daisy.  During her very first shift, she caught the eye of O.J., then 30, married, and one of the club’s regulars.  (He, too, had a dish named after him – the “O.J. Simpson” consisted of scrambled eggs and a sliced orange.  Let that sit for a minute.)  Though Nicole had no idea who the sports star was at the time and despite the fact that he was not exactly single, the two began an affair and within months were living together.  The rest is much publicized – and very tragic – history.

Along with being a pop culture phenomenon, The Daisy is also a screen star.  It was there that Leon (Bill Duke) told Julian (Richard Gere) he had to go back to Palm Springs for a job in the 1980 drama American Giglio.

It was also at The Daisy that Ross Conti (Steve Forrest) and Elliot (Beverly Hills, 90210’s Joe E. Tata!) discussed some illicit images in the second episode of the 1985 miniseries Hollywood Wives.

While much has been reported about The Daisy’s early, popular years, I could not find any info whatsoever on its demise and have seen it reported that the club was closed and demolished in both the early 1980s and in 2005.  Aerial views don’t provide much clarity, either.  Whatever the year, at some point the building was razed to make way for new retail space.  Today, the former Daisy site is home to the boutiques Saint Laurent and Moncler.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The former site of The Daisy, where Nicole Brown first met O.J. Simpson, can be found at 326 North Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.  The Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Anderton Court Shops complex is located right next door at 333 North Rodeo.

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