Mickey Cohen, the Mob and the Sunset Strip

West Hollywood has long had a hint of naughtiness due to its location as a “No-Man’s land” in the heart of Los Angeles yet outside its city limits. This made the area home to questionable businesses like speakeasies, gambling halls, and strip joints, and even more questionable businessmen like Mickey Cohen. The end of Prohibition could have given West Hollywood the chance to go straight but the action on the Sunset Strip just got wilder thanks to mobsters who were as colorful as the movie folk who kept company with them.

Meyer Harris Cohen, better known as Mickey, rose to prominence as the heir to Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel as the top dog in organized crime on the West Coast after the latter’s untimely death at the Beverly Hills home of his mistress Virginia Hill. Rumor had it that Siegel had been rubbed out by the Mob because he spent too much of their ill-gotten gains on his pet project, the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. This would turn out to be money well spent, but the guys with the cash didn’t have a crystal ball.

This left an opening and Mickey Cohen was just the guy to fill it. “The dapper little gent,” as muckraker Sid Hudgens referred to him in “L.A. Confidential,” operated out of his own complex at 8804 Sunset which held Cohen’s legit businesses: Michael’s Exclusive Haberdashery, Courtley Jewelers and a tailor shop where the crime boss held court. Of course, “legit” businesses make convenient fronts for illegal activities.

This address was also the site of an assassination attempt in 1948 when an unidentified gunman broke into Cohen’s office on the lower level of the building and opened fire. Cohen, who evaded death by hiding in his restroom, and several henchmen were hit but survived while two of his bodyguards were killed. Since Cohen had made numerous enemies including rival mobsters and corrupt cops, there were plenty of suspects but no arrests. Years later, a rival thug took credit for the crime. The IAC building now stands on the site of Cohen’s command center.

The second attempted hit took place on July 19, 1949, at Sherry’s, a ritzy restaurant located at 9039 Sunset. Cohen had been hanging out with the mix of mobsters and movie stars that frequented the joint before leaving at 3:55 a.m. His entourage was forced to duck and run as gunshots rang out. Again, Cohen survived. This lot later housed the rock club Gazzarri’s and is currently the home of One Oak.

The well-dressed and well-heeled mobster entertained a number of sexy ladies including glamorous strippers Candy Barr and Liz Renay. Being married to actress Lavonne Weaver did not cramp his style. Barr was a perfect mate for a crime boss since she had left a long rap sheet in Texas to strip at El Rancho Vegas as well as clubs on the Sunset Strip and was the star of an early porn reel that was a staple at 50s bachelor parties. Renay was equally colorful, a busty blonde who was so devoted to Cohen that she served 27 months in prison on Terminal Island rather than ratting out her lover.

Cohen’s reign as a crime king came to an end when he was convicted of income tax invasion, the favorite charge of the feds when they can’t get evidence on mobsters for their more serious offenses. He was sentenced to four years in federal prison and was released in 1955. Although he pretended to go straight, running several businesses, he was again convicted of tax evasion in 1961 and sent to Alcatraz. After being transferred to a federal prison in Atlanta, Cohen was misdiagnosed with an ulcer that turned out to be stomach cancer. He died from complications of surgery for that cancer in 1972 at the age of 62.

While there is no shortage of shady characters in today’s WeHo but they aren’t as interesting as they used to be.