Checking In With the Landmark Cockatoo Inn : Business: The former gathering place for film stars and elite of Los Angeles in the 1940s and ‘50s struggles to regain the glory of its past.
Betty Grable slept there. And, as legend has it, so did Mickey Rooney, Harry James and dozens of other stars from the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s.
The Cockatoo Inn in Hawthorne used to be a gathering place for the elite of Los Angeles. Today, the hotel is trying to rebound after two decades of decline that drove away much of its clientele.
“This place went through a real depression,” said Cliff Parks, 70, a used car dealer who’s been coming to the inn on Hawthorne Boulevard and Imperial Highway since 1956. “Now it’s coming back to life.”
The Cockatoo opened in 1946 as a chicken-and-rib drive-in restaurant by Andrew J. Lococo, a colorful man who later owned the world’s largest tuna-fishing boat.
Lococo’s business grew as jockeys and horse trainers from nearby Hollywood Park frequented the restaurant and attracted a following of celebrities and politicians.
“I remember all the limos that used to pull up out front with congressmen and councilmen from all over,” said Frank Lococo, 69, who worked as a manager for his cousin, Andrew, in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Today, Frank visits the hotel to reminisce with friends about the past, drink coffee and smoke cigarettes.
“It was really something,” Frank said. “Andy would buy 250 to 300 pounds of lobster at a time. We went through it pretty fast because a steak and lobster dinner was five bucks.”
In 1958, a fire destroyed the restaurant. Within months, Andrew Lococo rebuilt it and added a two-story house so he could live next door. Three years later, he opened the first part of what is now a 213-room hotel that resembles an old half-timbered English house.
But by 1970, the Cockatoo’s owner was in trouble with the law. The U.S. attorney general’s office identified him as a major organized-crime figure. The same year, he was convicted of perjury in connection with testimony during a grand jury investigation of interstate gambling and horse-race fixing.
Two years later, he sold the Cockatoo. In 1973, he died after a stroke at age 55.
A succession of real-estate companies operated the hotel through the 1970s and ‘80s, but longtime employees said business suffered without Lococo.
“The other owners were very nice to me, but they didn’t do much for the establishment,” said Samantha Bradley, 70, a restaurant employee for 23 years.
In 1991, the hotel went bankrupt, said George E. Coult, head of the company managing the Cockatoo for its creditors. He said much of the facility was in disrepair. In addition, the hotel attracted prostitution and drug activity, general manager Craig Andres said.
Now, after spending $1 million in refurbishments and a security system, Andres said the hotel’s occupancy rate has doubled to 40% within the last year.
Some trainers still live at the hotel during racing season, but the Cockatoo now attracts mainly tour groups and airline crews who want to stay near Los Angeles International Airport.
And, instead of attracting GI pinups like Grable, the hotel now serves as a temporary home for about 100 recruits taking examinations to join the armed forces. The government contract accounts for about one-third of the facility’s business, Andres said.
Despite the changes, managers and employees said the Cockatoo’s future depends on the hotel’s ability to draw on its past.
“We have a lot of restaurants and places to stay around here,” Bradley said. “But they’re all new and they’re all sterile. This place has Old World atmosphere. That’s why I’ve stayed here so long.”
