The Cherokee Building was built by Norman W. Alpaugh in 1929 and features a Spanish Colonial Revival design.[1] The building was Hollywood's first drive-in business, and it catered to the automobile by having a large motor entrance at the rear of the building where motorists could park and enter, rather than entering from the street.[2]
One of the Cherokee Building's original tenants was a hair salon that acted as a front for a Prohibition-era illegal card club and gambling speakeasy. In the 1930s, Gene Austin opened a nightclub in the building, and that business was followed by several bars, including a gay bar.[3][4] In 1944, the bar changed to Boardner's, whose name has remained ever since.[5]
In 1938, Larry Edmunds Bookshop moved into one of the building's storefronts.[2] In the 1960s and 70s, several clothing stores popular with rock musicians were located in this building.[4]