Musso & Frank Grill
Hollywood, CA Photo courtesy Georg Balandran
Along Hollywood Boulevard, Musso & Frank Grill offers a familiar reminder that dinner in Hollywood doesn’t always require trying the newest place in town. Opened in 1919, the restaurant has welcomed generations of actors, writers, and visitors looking for a good meal with a little atmosphere.
The booths, dark wood, and old-fashioned service are part of the attraction. Writers including William Faulkner and Raymond Chandler helped give Musso’s its literary reputation, particularly during the years of the celebrated Back Room. Apparently a restaurant table could be useful for more than holding dinner.
When the Back Room closed, its bar and furnishings moved into the New Room in 1955. Calling something more than seventy years old “new” seems perfectly reasonable here.
The restaurant also appears in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, giving moviegoers a look at surroundings that needed little help playing an earlier decade.
UPDATE: Musso & Frank continues serving on Hollywood Boulevard, more than a century after opening. The studios and storefronts around it have changed, but there’s still a place to settle into a booth and let Hollywood come to the table. 10-26
Frolic Room
Hollywood, CA Photo courtesy Georg Balandran
Next to the Pantages Theatre, the Frolic Room announces itself with a neon sign that gives Hollywood Boulevard another reason to look good after dark. The small bar makes a fitting neighbor for the much larger theater marquee. One offers a show, while the other offers somewhere to discuss it afterward.
The Frolic Room’s history reaches back to the early 1930s, with stories of its beginnings during Prohibition adding to the atmosphere. Inside, an Al Hirschfeld mural installed in 1963 supplies a crowd of famous faces, whether or not any celebrities happen to be sitting at the bar.
UPDATE: The Frolic Room remains a Hollywood Boulevard watering hole beside the Pantages. Its neon and familiar interior continue to offer a smaller-scale evening out among the boulevard’s larger attractions. 10-26
Chateau Marmont
Hollywood, CA Photo courtesy Georg Balandran
A little French chateau scenery rises above Sunset Boulevard at the Chateau Marmont Hotel. Opened in 1929 as an apartment building and converted to a hotel in 1931, the landmark offered Hollywood an address that looked comfortably removed from the traffic below.
Its castle-like profile was inspired by France’s Château d’Amboise, with architect William Douglas Lee playing a central role in the design. Gardens and bungalows added more secluded places to stay, helping establish the hotel’s reputation as somewhere famous guests could retreat from public view.
Chateau Marmont
Hollywood, CA Photo courtesy Georg Balandran
Of course, privacy hasn’t kept the stories from escaping. Generations of actors and musicians have contributed to the Chateau’s reputation, though the building’s distinctive exterior offers plenty to admire without consulting the guest register.
The history also includes tragedy. John Belushi died in a bungalow here in March 1982, an event that remains closely associated with the hotel.
UPDATE: Chateau Marmont continues operating as a hotel above the Sunset Strip. Nearly a century after its apartment-house beginnings, the familiar silhouette remains one of the boulevard’s most recognizable sights. 10-26
Roxy Theater
Hollywood, CA Photo courtesy Georg Balandran
Along the Sunset Strip, the Roxy Theater has packed a remarkable amount of music history into a relatively intimate room. Opened on September 20, 1973, the club welcomed Neil Young and the Santa Monica Flyers for its first performances. Not a bad way to introduce a new venue.
Lou Adler and Elmer Valentine were central figures behind the Roxy, which quickly became part of the Strip’s nightlife. The smaller setting put audiences close to the performers, offering a different experience from watching a distant stage across an arena.
In March 1974, the American stage production of The Rocky Horror Show opened here, before the story became the familiar cult movie. The Roxy had another piece of entertainment history underway less than a year after opening.
UPDATE: The Roxy continues presenting live music on Sunset Boulevard. Neil Young returned for its fiftieth-anniversary celebrations in September 2023, bringing the club’s history back around to its opening act. 10-26
Whisky a Go Go
Hollywood, CA Photo courtesy Georg Balandran
At Sunset and San Vicente, the Whisky a Go Go carries a name familiar well beyond West Hollywood. Opened in January 1964, the club became a cornerstone of the Sunset Strip’s music scene, with Johnny Rivers helping establish its early reputation.
The go-go dancers added movement above the crowd, while the stage supplied plenty below. In 1966, the Doors served as the house band, playing before audiences that couldn’t yet know how familiar those songs and faces would become.
Over the following decades, the Whisky welcomed changing generations of musicians and fans. The styles shifted, the volume remained substantial, and the club’s name became part of the attraction. For visitors following rock history, the building itself is worth a stop.
UPDATE: The Whisky remains an operating live-music venue on the Sunset Strip. More than sixty years after opening, another lineup of bands continues to take the stage beneath one of Hollywood’s best-known club names. 10-26
Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel Cinegrill
Hollywood, CA Photo courtesy Georg Balandran
The Cinegrill name belongs to the days when an evening at a Hollywood hotel could include dinner, drinks, and a show without heading back outside. Located inside the Hollywood Roosevelt, the intimate venue added another entertainment destination to a boulevard already well supplied with marquees.
The hotel opened in 1927 and hosted the first Academy Awards in 1929. The Cinegrill later contributed its own chapter through cabaret, comedy, and musical performances. A smaller room offered a chance to see entertainers without needing binoculars from the back row.
Hollywood Roosevelt/Cinegrill
Hollywood, CA Photo courtesy Adriene Biondo
The marquee is part of that memory, announcing an evening’s entertainment to people passing along Hollywood Boulevard. Like the hotel around it, the Cinegrill went through changes as tastes and ownership shifted.
UPDATE: The Cinegrill name is back in use at the Hollywood Roosevelt. The hotel currently advertises the Cinegrill Theater for live performances, cabaret, and screenings, continuing the entertainment connection inside this historic address. 10-26
