Frank Sebastian was known as an elegant gentleman who knew talent when he saw it. His first Los Angeles restaurant was Café Sebastian (or Frank Sebastian’s Café Venice) in Venice, CA. in the 1920s with French and Italian Food. He opened his famous Cotton Club (previously Moonlight Gardens and Mandarin Gardens and the Green Mill) on Washington Blvd. in Culver City in February of 1926. This was one of the earliest and best known sites for Jazz and other acts by Afro-American performers in Los Angeles. The Cotton Club is remembered in part as the place Louis Armstrong was busted for Marijuana use. The Cotton Club was also the venue for many great Jazz performances, including Duke Ellington's Band.

In July of 1935, Frank Sebastian was jailed for contempt when he refused to answer grand jury questions regarding liquor and gambling at his club. He was rumored to have mob ties. He lost his liquor license and then was accused of bribery when he regained it. News about the Cotton Club seems to end around 1938. It later became Casa Manana under different ownership.

He also owned the Cubanola at La Brea near Beverly. Frank Sebastian also owned the “Café of all Nations” in Sacramento. The building that housed the Cotton Club (last known as Zucca’s Opera House) burnt down on 2-20-1950.

Frank Sebastian was married in 1959 at age 61 to Effie Hashow. Later in life he ran the Senator Hotel and the Hotel El Dorado in Sacramento. Bio copied from Latimemachine (thanks)