Joe P./Yelp
L.A.’s dining scene might be in the midst of a full-scale renaissance, but its oldest restaurants remain just as popular as the farm-to-table brunch spots and the Peruvian fusion kitchens.
Los Angeles is a city that respects—maybe even clings to—the faded glamour of its Golden Age, and it celebrates that era’s institutions accordingly.
On any night of the week you’ll find ancient Hollywood restaurants that are still overflowing with patrons, all looking for a trace of a long-lost L.A.—in the bottom of a martini glass, or the down the side of an aged leather booth.
Beyond the nostalgia factor, these O.G. dining destinations offer a welcome rebuke to L.A.'s shallow stereotype. In a town built on an ephemeral entertainment industry and inhabited by a transient crowd of models/actors/whatevers, there’s something deeply satisfying about a restaurant with a sense of history, a crowd of geriatric regulars, and a maître d’ who knows your name (and is always glad you came, etc. etc).
At these ten venerated L.A. dining spots, the food is still really good (well, mostly), but the backstories are even better. Read on to discover the 11 best places to get a taste of Los Angeles, as it used to be.
Musso & Frank Grill/Yelp
Neighborhood: Hollywood
Address and phone: 6667 Hollywood Blvd (323-467-7788)
Website: mussoandfrank.com
Established in 1919, Musso and Frank’s is L.A,’s oldest restaurant and perhaps its most iconic—a long line of Hollywood stars have reclined in its red leather booths and propped up its polished wood bar. Back in the day, the likes of Orson Welles and Charlie Chaplin would roll up to enjoy an ice-cold martini and the famous chicken potpie. Thanks to an entirely unchanged menu, that’s exactly what you can (and should) do today.
Talking point: In the 1930s, Musso and Frank’s infamous "Back Room" became the favored drinking spot of America’s literary elite, where F. Scott Fitzgerald and William Faulkner (who apparently like to mix his own mint juleps at the bar) would hang out after stints at the Screen Writers Guild across the street. According to the restaurant, Raymond Chandler even managed to knock out several chapters of the The Big Sleep in the Back Room in between rounds of martinis.
Adrienne D./Yelp
Daniel W./Yelp
Neighborhood: Beverly Hills
Address and phone: 9641 Sunset Blvd (310-276-2251)
Website: beverlyhillshotel.com
Prepare to be charmed by this kitschy diner inside Beverly Hills’ beloved salmon-pink palace, where the malted milkshakes and freshly baked pies have been homemade on the premises since 1949. Arrive early to grab one of the 19 wrought-iron stools at the curved bar and order from a menu that combines old Hollywood classics (Silver Dollar buttermilk pancakes) with more recent L.A. stalwarts (grilled lean turkey burgers, egg white omelettes with vegetables).
Talking point: The Fountain Coffee Room is just as famed for its banana-leaf wallpaper as it is for its fresh orange juice freeze. Originally designed by Don Loper in 1941, the ‘Martinique’ wallpaper has become one of the most coveted graphic prints of the past 70 years.
