Frank Sebastian’s New Cotton Club Menu. Culver City, CA, ca. 1920s. Colorful Art Deco-styled cover design depicts the host welcoming a trio of revelers into Culver City, California’s latest jazz spot. 10 x 7 ½”. Pin hole at upper left corner. Staining. The original Cotton Club opened in New York City in 1923 as a whites-only jazz establishment, with black performers such as Ethel Waters and Bill Robinson two of only a handful of exceptions. The Culver City Cotton Club was opened by Frank Sebastian in 1926. This incarnation of the Cotton Club was famous for its all-black orchestras and for being open all night, both to lure in revelers from Los Angeles trying to avoid the city’s 2 a.m. curfew and to protect its performers from running afoul of Culver City’s unofficial “sundown” laws warning non-whites not to be caught on the streets after dark. The club would close in 1938, having hosted throughout its run such legendary acts as Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, and Duke Ellington.