Irv Spence's Cartoon Diary: January 10, 1944

"Pvt. Higgins" may be Bill Higgins; "Abrams" is most likely Ray Abrams, an animator with Tex Avery's unit.

Melody Lane menu cover ca.1940's

Inside page from the menu

Melody Lane ashtray, from this excellent Flickr set

My guess is this dinner meeting took place at the Melody Ranch of Wilshire, if only because its location at 5351 Wilshire Blvd., and Detroit, was a bit more convenient to the MGM studios.

The Melody Lane of Hollywood restaurant 1n 1949.

The Hollywood Melody Lane, previously the Coco Tree Cafe, sometime
prior to remodeling.

The Melody Lane of Hollywood was located at 6301 Hollywood Blvd., the NW corner of Hollywood and Vine. In the 50s and 60s, with minor alterations, it was the location of another restaurant, Hody's Coffee Shop. It's now a parking lot.

A composite night view of Hody's in this postcard mislocates the Captiol
Records building, but gives us a great beach ball-nosed clown billboard.

Clownless, but geographically accurate in the daylight.

Melody Lane Downtown was located at 744-46 S. Hill Street. This section of the street has also been replaced with some ugly buildings and a parking lot.

The Melody Lane Downtown, 1930s.

A closer look at the Melody Lane Downtown
door, 1930s.

 The best Melody Lane, one that isn't listed in the 1942 City Directory but could have been around in 1944, is the drive-in at Wilshire and Western. My guess is this is the NE corner, looking north from Wilshire. The corner now holds shops and condos and the last stop on the Purple Line. South across Wilshire would be the Warner's Wiltern Theater which is still there.