The iconic corner of Robertson and Santa Monica Boulevard, until recently home to Lisa Vanderpump’s Pump restaurant, is set to welcome a new establishment, Roosterfish. The popular venue, located on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice, is expanding its footprint to West Hollywood, according to Entertainment Tonight.
Roosterfish has commenced construction at the former Pump site, with plans to open its doors in September. Unlike its Venice counterpart, which solely serves beverages, the West Hollywood branch will introduce a menu featuring light casual Italian dishes.
Roosterfish was originally a gay bar, but over time the establishment has courted and drawn a general-audience clientele.
Pump closed last month. A statement from Pump’s official Instagram cited the expiration of the lease and potential rent hikes as reasons for the closure. However, the landlord countered these claims, stating that there was no rent increase and that they had been supportive during the pandemic.
Earlier this year, Leslie Haro of City Street Commercial, the broker responsible for the space, mentioned that while the business was up for sale, the real estate was not. The venue, which gained fame on the show Vanderpump Rules, reportedly struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, Vanderpump’s other businesses, TomTom and Vanderpump Cocktail Garden, are thriving, according to ET.
In a statement last March, Vanderpump expressed uncertainty about relinquishing the Pump location, highlighting a decade-long presence and ongoing lease discussions. She also hinted at expanding her restaurant portfolio with two new establishments in partnership with Caesars Palace.
I am going to do a wait-and-see approach to the new Roosterfish place replacing the old Pump.The owners will have to realize they are in a gay district and will need to take into account all the gay patrons there.They will be next door to Motherlobe. I consider that part of West Hollywood to be a gay district still.I want to be treated with respect and if a establishment will want to discriminate against me and other gay patrons,I will take my business elsewhere. I am not sure about the Italian menu they will be serving at the new Roosterfish.It… Read more »
Can we PLEASE reclaim the sidewalk in front of Pump for the pedestrians of the city before Roosterfish opens? Restaurants and bars in WeHo are back to pre pandemic numbers, WHY are the establishments still allowed to operate on city property? Give us our sidewalks and parking spaces back I’m looking at Rocco’s, Izakaya, Kreation, Beaches, Garden Bar, TomTom, Stache, Hightops, Zpizza, Fiesta Cantina, Trunks, Location formally known as Conservatory & Nora. Pure Vita had to give theirs up.
I could not agree more. I enjoy these venues, but I also have to be able to safely walk to them. (especially those that force pedestrians to walk on the street behind a Jersey barrier). The space is public, and only on loan, unless the space use is specified in the lease. In these latter cases, businesses have paid for the privilege.
Some of the best Sundays of my life. roosterfish Sunday afternoons hamburgers made on a cheap grill outside for 3 dollars. NO ATTITUDE and just fun playing pool with strangers. I remember the night George Bush won presidency again. I went to RF and got the most drunk I have been in my life. God life was good back then.
Great news. I was worried the corner would sit empty for a long time.
That’s cool – that bat was always friendly.
What was once a fun “dive-ish” “beach-ish” bar in Venice became a pretentious straight hangout. Don’t be fooled – gay men really don’t feel welcomed there anymore. It’s just the name that carries on the gay tradition.
Sounds good to most people living here. Thanks. I’ll check it out.
You sound very anti-gay. Big finger to you. Yes. Really.
“voting” or “Ham Shipey”
IS very anti-gay. Why does he live here?
A restaurant that welcomes all people is a problem to you?
The larger problem which I am sure you couldn’t care less about is that the clientele and the management in the majority of nightlife establishments outside of West Hollywood are not overly embracing of openly gay male patrons and lots of people don’t feel comfortable about venturing outside of their comfort zone for this reason.
You are 100% correct. Loved original Roosterfish gay bar in Venice. Hated the Big Tech straight bar that took it over and hijacked the name
I used to go to the original Roosterfish when it was a come-as-you-are gay cruise dive bar (think Gold Coast West). As Venice gentrified and expensivified the bar kept pace. I’m all for the Roosterfish Weho, Italian fare for some reason seems a bit off, but I’ll take it. May they thrive.
Not sure I’ll go there…..but it’s a step in the right direction.
Is there any such thing as a “gay bar” anymore in West Hollywood? Just curious.
When women started hanging out at our gay bars and then complained when they saw gay men doing what gay men do that was the beginning of the end. The concept of inclusion has changed just about everything that used to be fun and it has bitten progressives on the butt!
It’s all about not taking human nature into account, that is living in a world of “fairy dust”. Inclusion very often means those that are welcoming others in will be run over/bought out by those they included. Age old stuff. As reference, see The Abbey.
Progressives (Liberals) really believe that utopia is just a matter of everyone cooperating but, you’re right, they don’t take human nature into account. Equity means making everybody equally miserable and it is not going to happen!
So do you think bars should be able to discriminate on the basis of gender? Is that a conservative value?
You’re just itching for a fight but I’m not going to give it to you. Do you have any joy in your life at all?
My life is filled with joy!
Have you noticed almost every single one of your comments is negative or complaining about an aspect of living here? Just take a second and look back…*almost every single comment*
I LOVE living here. I love the restaurants, the weather, the people, the architecture, the walkability etc
“Do you have any joy in your life at all?” You should be asking yourself this question. Or maybe your therapist could address it with you.
I respond to issues. You attack people.
You can’t handle being asked a question? Okay…
You attacked women. Maybe develop some self awareness and ease up on the misogyny.
Where do you read an attack on women in my comment? I was responding to Reading Rainbow’s comment about gay men’s bars. I was providing a history observation without making a value judgement. There was a time when women probably had no interest in going to gay men’s bars, but when they started to frequent them things began to change. You don’t know that I wasn’t thinking, “Well, good, things needed to change so I’m glad women’s presence triggered it!” Or maybe I resent their intrusion. Reading Rainbow seems to prefer things the way they once were, so I made… Read more »
You calling anyone else joyless is funny seeing as how basically everything you have to say is in step with the usual cast of characters on this site who comprise the endless NIMBY MAGA complaint department.
You could certainly rightly observe that I am right-of-center, but not MAGA.
And NIMBY? Where do you get that?
Not exactly exciting, but it could be worse! Will be glad to check it out. I’d definitely prefer to see a West Hollywood incarnation of the original Roosterfish before it became what it is now in Venice, but that’s just living in the past. It’s swapping out one mixed crowd in Pump with more of the same. There are no actual gay bars in West Hollywood, they’re all mixed. Whatever opening date they have in mind though, you can double or triple how long that will take. That’s West Hollywood.
“could be worse”, too bad its come to that. Yikes.
I’d say that the Revolver, Micky’s, Gym Bar, Mother Lode and Chapel as still pretty solidly gay.
How about Trunk’s?
I go to all the places mentioned here fairly often and there’s always a fair number of straight women there. All that’s left for actual gay bars in LA are The Eagle and The Bullet in North Hollywood. It takes fetish nights and gay porn playing on screens to keep anyone else out, that’s what it’s come to now, LoL!