Jimmy's Hideaway: The "Little Villa Capri"

By Tim Black

It was well-documented  in the countless Hollywood gossip publications at the height of Dean's film career, that Warner Brothers actress Pier Angeli was the Love of James Dean's Life. It was also reported that they would be seen cuddling together in a little love nest off Hollywood Boulevard at 1735 McCadden Place called the Villa Capri restaurant.

It had been Pier's favorite Italian restaurant and she brought Jimmy to it on one of their first dates in 1954.

Pier was working on the same Warner's lot during the making of East Of Eden. She was working with Paul Newman on The Silver Chalice,  a Biblical "epic". The couple made themselves at home at the little Italian restaurant almost every night they were together and so it was a special place in Dean's life where he could relax and be away from the demands of the studio.

The Villa Capri was attached to an old hotel on one side and Don The Beachcomber's, a Polynesian restaurant, on the other.

Owner Patsy D' Amore opened the place in 1950. The entrance was from the sidewalk and it could seat only up to 52 people.

It is interesting that the owner, Italian-born Patsy D' Amore, and Jimmy's favorite waiter, Mario Morino, mirrored the owner and waiter of Jimmy's New York favorite, "Jerry's Bar and Restaurant". Owner Jerry and his top waiter, Louie, were the Manhattan answer to Patsy and Mario while Jimmy struggled to survive his formative years in television, before Elia Kazan shuffled him off to Hollywood to make John Steinbeck's East of Eden in 1954.

The proximity of the original Villa Capri to the Hollywood recording and movie studios, coupled with its obscure adobe exterior, not obvious from the tourist path, created a safe-haven for those of Hollywood's mid-1950's elite. That elite included movie stars and mobsters alike, and did not cater to, or encourage, Industry Outsiders unless they were dressed properly in dark suit and tie and on their best behavior. The rule was to leave the celebrities alone. Hollywood press and photographers were turned away at the door unless invited. *

Just a few feet to the north, off the tourist path sat the Villa Capri (1950-1955), Jimmy's "hideaway".

The Masquire's Club at 6735 Yucca was replaced by the new Villa Capri (below)

The new Villa Capri opened in 1957

It has been often mistaken for the restaurant James Dean frequented.

To the left of the Man-Lift is the site of the original Villa Capri (1950-55) at 1735 North McCadden, Hollywood. In the background is the apartment complex at 6735 Yucca that, just this year in 2007, replaced the Newer 1957 Villa Capri.

 1957 Villa Capri  

Courtesy Barry Mcmahon 

Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe, Joe Dimaggio and even top Los Angeles Mob-Boss Mickey Cohen, frequently dined and partied at Patsy's little Villa Capri. The eatery reached its height in popularity with those in the Industry in early 1955. This sinister mix of celebrities and mobsters often attracted the watchful eyes of the FBI, who would park their black Fords outside on the curb, but would never enter through the doors of the establishment.

Jimmy and Pier's Love Affair was short-lived. Although the Studio approved of it and enjoyed the publicity, Pier, an Italian and Roman Catholic, was pressured by her mother to stay away from James Dean, who was neither Italian nor Catholic. 

Dean continued to frequent the little Villa Capri even after his much publicized break-up with Pier Angeli, who succumbed to the pressure of her stubborn Catholic mother and married another Italian American, entertainer Vic Damone, who was also a Catholic and  Villa Capri regular.

Shortly before his death, Dean leased a one-loft, log cabin-style bungalow from Maitre d' Nicco Romanos and began showing up at the Villa Capri with Swiss-born Paramount actress Ursula Andress in tow.

On Friday, September 23rd, Dean brought his new Porsche 550 Spyder to the restaurant to show it off. To those who walked out to the parking lot to see it, he went over all the engine specifications and racing capabilities. Patsy related later that he did not like the low-slung sinister-looking car, and thought it was dangerous.

Among the celebrities to witness Jimmy's "New Love" was actor Alec Guinness who was in town acting along-side Gene Kelly in MGM's "The Swan". Guinness, in a later interview, remembers telling Dean never to get in the car again or he would die within a week. One can only imagine how ridiculous that must have sounded to a racer like Jimmy who had already, at least in his own mind, out-grown the 356 Super. He had just recently blown the engine in that car at the Memorial Day Santa Barbara race and had traded it in for the much faster 550.

James Dean would eat his last full meal at the establishment on September 29th after an 11th-hour pay-phone call to a friend attempting to add to his Salinas race entourage.

Coincidentally, shortly after Dean's death, the Villa Capri closed at the end of its lease. The site's owner demanded more money and an interest in Patsy D' Amore's business. Patsy refused and purchased a lot just up the street at 6735 Yucca owned by the Masquer's Club, where Hollywood film people ate, drank and socialized. He demolished the existing Masquer's Club building and built a cozy, but larger new restaurant complete with brick fireplaces and larger booths. The new Villa Capri was a huge improvement over the old one and, partnering with Frank Sinatra, opened in 1957.

Both Villa Capris are now gone. At Farmers Market on Fairfax, an over-the-counter Patsy D' Amore's Pizza still operates under the ownership and management of Patsy's daughter Filomena.

The original little Villa Capri was leveled many years ago and is now a fenced-in parking lot.

The newer Villa Capri was leveled in 2006 and an apartment complex has replaced it.

Today the area is in blight, but redevelopment is slowly beginning. Fences are intended to keep tresspassers out. This writer stopped by the site on November 3, 2007 to take pictures for an article intended to set the record straight on the correct Villa Capri Dean visited during his short time in Hollywood. In the past, the boarded-up 1957 building has been mistaken for the one Jimmy had many of his best times at. 

Barry McMahon in Canada, sent this writer a note telling of his frustration with this mistaken-identity and the story just had to be written and Barry is the reason for it. **    

At the site, security guards were chasing away skate-boarders and threatening them with jail-time. The address, 1735 North McCadden, verified by information the security guards gave and the "Notice of Public Hearing" on the gate, no longer creates the atmosphere or any image that it once was a gathering place for the cream of the Hollywood crop.

The place where James Dean spent many happy moments just before his death with perhaps the only woman he truly loved, Pier Angeli, is now gone. Even its site is difficult to locate unless you know exactly where to look. 

Its replacement held some hope of being spared the wrecking ball until recently.

When Patsy D' Amore re-opened at his new 1635 Yucca Street location, it was nationally televised on NBC's "America Tonight After Dark", a spin-off of the Tonight Show.

The restaurant continued in the media spotlight for twenty-five years. It was the place Sinatra held his Forty-Second birthday party . A record of that celebration was produced and made available to the public. Also it was where Frank met with Nelson Riddle, Billy May, Axel Stordahl and many other gifted musicians to relax and go over music scores while making records at nearby Capital Studios. Sinatra was said to be very abrupt and demanding in the studio, but after a session he would take his entourage of musicians to the Villa Capri and he was a changed man, more happy-go-lucky and relaxed. The creative juices flowed easier over spirits and the light-hearted atmosphere the restaurant created for its most important patrons.

Live celebrity radio shows were often broadcast from the new Villa Capri. It also served as the restaurant 'Tulios' in the movie Body Heat (1981).  

In 2005, a Hollywood Historical Resources Group failed to convince the Los Angeles City Planning Department that the second Villa Capri at 1635 Yucca Street held enough historic and cultural relevance to save it from the wrecking ball.  

The locations of the original Little Villa Capri and the 1957 Villa Capri are within ear-shot of each other. When you finally find where they once were, "progress" is seen from an odd angle.

bove  The former site of the "Little Villa Capri" where James Dean dated Pier Angeli and, later, Ursula Andress. It is where he had his last meal the night before he died in the terrible auto accident in Cholame, California.

* Author's Footnote: Although the press was not allowed into the Villa Capri uninvited, the reports of Jimmy and Pier "cuddling together" was both allowed and encouraged by Warner Brothers to be printed in all the "gossip publications". Obviously Jack Warner's influence allowed at least one reporter to spread the story of the public displays of affection between the two young stars at the Villa Capri.

** A special note of thanks to Barry McMahon for his many special contributions to the "Who Killed James Dean" website.