“Let’s do lunch,” said one young director to his executive producer. The phrase, born in the Los Angeles culture and the entertainment industry—”Tinseltown”, was right here in West Hollywood. The Norma Triangle was named for many Hollywood legends. Tract houses took root in the West Hollywood West neighborhood for many an actor, director or producer. “The Lot” on WeHo’s east side was home to ‘the industry’.
Where to meet for lunch or brunch? The Formosa Cafe was an old hotspot for those who worked at The Lot. Over the years the choices evolved but were always plentiful. Hamburger Hamlet was a hub on the Sunset Strip. Along Santa Monica Blvd and the world famous Route 66 there were many ‘diners’ and burger joints. Santa Monica Blvd offered many choices including the French Market, Silver Spoon and a world famous IHOP and more. The original Dukes at the Tropicana turned Ramada and their long picnic benches brought everyone together for breakfast, lunch or dinner. The Greenery was a special hangout in Boystown nestled next to other shops such as “All American Boy’ and the original Los Angeles Sporting Club. Off the boulevard, there were even more community eateries such as Ed’s Coffee Shop and La Conversation. There are so many more memories: Hilldale Cafe, Tacos Tacos, Cafe D’Toile, Hamburger Haven, and the lunch crowd fed the retail shops along the boulevard.
So where do you want to do to lunch? When BlockParty opened in 2009 we had a ton of choices. I’d head down to Eat Well or Baxix often. Champagne Bakery was another great place but later became Halal Guys, Tango Grill became Hollywood Burger, Steak Depot became 8oz poke, If we walked east from the shop there was a long list of places; Chop Stop, Subway or even the patio at Eleven bar. Meeting someone for lunch was the fun part of the day. Always a new place to go.
A few weeks ago Hollywood Burger closed their WeHo location. For some of us it was a great place, with good food and affordable prices. My employees all had their favorites. But, we lost another community serving business. Grabbing a lunch now is two blocks away.
There are new places, not quite as quaint or affordable as the hang outs from the good old days. Breakfast Republic on the east side is one of them—the all-American breakfast with coffee is a bit above $30 with tip, and its not much different at Joey’s Cafe who has a short leash on their future. Mel’s Diner on Sunset and Hugo’s are still kickin’, as well as Barney’s Beanery with their good old boy stories of kicking out the fags. For a breakfast or lunch that’s a bit less expensive you might have to head out of the city limits to Norms on La Cienega for a bigger better breakfast or to cash in on their senior lunch specials.
Melrose has become a hotspot for the Beverly Hills East crowd. Bottega Louie seems like the busienst lunch place in town. But Weho has changed. The way WeHoans gathered for breakfast and lunch has changed. Empty storefronts and less foot traffic have become a contagion to other businesses. The conversion of many of those eateries and storefronts to bars and nightclubs that serve the public at night have left much of the business district empty during the day. 
Walking out the front door of the BlockParty for lunch used to be an adventure.. where to go? Who to meet.. now we mostly order in. Delivery apps have taken the place of these storefronts and many of those businesses serve West Hollywood without the high business rents or highest cost of labor. Somewhere along the line West Hollywood gave up its edge.
Yesterday one of my staff members relayed, “I brought a bagged lunch today”. I guess that says it all.
This is just another indicator that West Hollywood is in crisis. The community is basically gone. At night it is full of outsiders who come here because it is a curiosity. They don’t have a life here and there are several that come here to prey on what is here by committing crimes. The current majority of the city council is throwing rat poison on this city day by day. I don’t think that we are ever going to build back an updated version of what once existed here.
WeHo as we once knew it, lived in, loved it, is gone! My favorite years in WeHo were the mid to late 90’s. Coming out of the AIDS crises, the sense of community was strong, the clubs/bars were fun, the music was loud, the party favors were not killing us, we looked out for each other, and we made it home safe- sometimes a day or two later.
You’re so right on. Weho is depressing.
West Hollywood used to be fun. I remember many of those places. It’s amazing how you keep Block party alive and I appreciate you.
Let’s not exclude Cafe D’Etoile and Bossa Nova on Robertson. But now instead of “let’s do lunch” it’s “let’s do pot”. Plenty of pot shops to choose from.
Absolutely.. !