This Fancy French Bakery Used To House Charlie Chaplin's Office

At 624 La Brea Avenue in Hollywood, the home of République restaurant, you'll find an impressive building with a fascinating history. The building has housed many tenants, but its origins might be somewhat surprising — silent movie director and star Charlie Chaplin commissioned it in 1928. 

Like the titular character from one of his films, Chaplin, who was born in London in 1889, had something of an urchin's childhood. By the time he arrived in Hollywood in 1913, he had spent decades acting in vaudeville and films. His popularity had grown quickly, and by 1917, he started his own production company in Hollywood. In 1928, his expanding empire grew to include the impressive property at La Brea Avenue. He had the building designed in the Gothic Revival style so popular at the time, and it had an airy, open feel due to an interior courtyard and a patterned tile floor.

For much of its life, the building has been home to restaurants and bakeries, including Campanile and the La Brea Bakery. Campanile was at the heart of the California farm-to-table movement, and when the restaurant closed in 2012 it felt like the end of a culinary era, leaving a void in the American restaurant scene. That void was filled by République, the brainchild of husband-and-wife team chefs Walter and Margarita Manzke, who lovingly restored the building to a space that Chaplin himself might recognize.

Cafe and bakery by day and bustling wine bar by night, République serves contemporary French food, but entering the space that houses it is like taking a trip to Chaplin's time. The dining room was redesigned to capture the original open and airy space, emphasizing the Spanish feel the original tiles imparted. The furniture, lighting, paint choices, and table settings were all chosen because they could have been picked by an architect or designer from Chaplin's time. But it's the food served in this atmosphere that might really set the place apart and make it such a popular L.A. destination.

The breakfast and lunch menus boast freshly baked breads, which also appear as the base for a variety of toasts, as well as French classics like a traditional omelette and slightly more unusual offerings like a lobster omelette, kimchi fried rice, chia seed pudding, and grilled Vietnamese chicken salad (Although none of the spicy curries Chaplin loved). Dinner in the restaurant is a more elegant affair, serving up dishes like leek beignets, hamachi crudo, black truffle risotto, and Napa Valley lamb rack. This fresh and innovative food, served in a bright, spacious space that once housed the great Charlie Chaplin, makes an evening out nothing short of an illuminating experience.