We’re thankful for our users’ many stories over the years. They help make connections to people and places, especially right here in Southern California! This recent contribution came to us via Becky Cortez, who recalled some great lunch memories at the Cockatoo with her grandfather. She writes: My grandfather owned a furniture store in Inglewood…
Pre-Cockatoo Era The history of the Cockatoo is set against the backdrop of a fast-growing Los Angeles. Population in Los Angeles County spiked from 170K in 1900 to 2.2M by 1930. Tumultuous times saw a stock market crash that closed the lid on the roaring twenties. After Prohibition and The Great Depression, the world was…
Recently, we had a brief chat with former Cockatoo employee, Favian Gonzales. He was a room service waiter from 1989 to 1994, just before the Cockatoo closed. We were excited to ask him some questions about his time there. CockatooInn.com: How did you first get hired? FG: I was first hired by a friend from…
Coronavirus has sometimes made us forget that 2020 is an election year. While 2020 has been called one of the most turbulent years in recent memory, 1968 definitely gives it a run for its money. Coincidentally, that was also the year when Cockatoo Inn owner Andy ran for office. Spoiler Alert Andy Lococo was nearing…
As we’ve documented before, the Cockatoo Inn went through some tough times over the decades. One of its toughest challenges came in 1958, when a fire ripped through the successful establishment and destroyed it entirely. At the time, a user remembered biking through the Cockatoo’s burnt remains as a child. Given the cloud of organized…
Mother’s Day is just around the corner! We dug up this 30 year-old ad for Mother’s Day at the Cockatoo Inn that ran in Los Angeles newspapers in 1990: You can tell which ads were from the later years, because they used the the white cockatoo image much more often. The lettering of the words,…
Throughout the decades, people have had different types of experiences at the Cockatoo. One can imagine in the 1950s and 60s, date nights in suits and dresses. Maybe you danced with one of the many horse jockeys, like Becky did. There were countless breakfasts, brunches, lunches and group functions. Maybe you rocked out nightly to…
Today is Valentine’s Day 2020, and thought we’d share this amazing Valentine’s Day Ad for the Cockatoo Inn that ran in Los Angeles newspapers back in 1981: For its time, this was a great Valentine’s Day Ad for the Cockatoo Inn. Strong headline, strong branding, and great dominant lace-heart imagery. And the typography was stylish,…
The year was 1984. Cold War tensions were still high. Hawthorne, California had a large defense presence. On December 10, 1984, an aerospace engineer from Northrop Aviation decided to risk it all. Here’s what a spy tried to do at the Cockatoo. Background Thomas P. Cavanagh (b.1945) was a mid-level engineer at the Advanced Systems…
One of the biggest mysteries of the 20th Century was the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa. In 2019, this story was brought to film by Martin Scorcese. It combined history’s best screen talent, the biggest streaming service, and very expensive special effects. In this post, we share some thoughts on, and try not to spoil, The…