The Sunset Strip in West Hollywood has seen a wave of restaurant closures over the past year, with familiar names like Pink Taco, Charcoal, and Le Petit Four shuttering their doors. For some, these losses create a sense of unease about the area’s vitality.
“Gut reaction is always kind of scary, because you always wonder, it’s like, ‘Hey, can that be us?'” said Tadeh Ghazalian, CEO of Dialog Cafe, a family-run establishment at Sunset and Holloway.
Yet, Dialog Cafe, now in its 18th year, remains a lively hub. Ghazalian attributes their staying power to innovation, top-notch service, and leveraging artificial intelligence to manage expenses efficiently. The cafe caters to a diverse crowd, from tourists to local workers in nearby hotels and shops.
“A lot of the people that we feed are actually people who work in West Hollywood, so as much as we have tourists and everybody else, you know, everybody who works in the hotels, everybody who works in retail, they come and eat here every day, get their cold brew before they go to the bar at night and work all night,” Ghazalian said. “So you gotta keep that like, quality there and keep the price point right.”
To support the restaurant industry, West Hollywood has granted an additional year for eateries to convert temporary outdoor dining spaces into permanent fixtures. However, challenges persist, including steep rents and elevated minimum wage requirements, which vary by business.
Mayor Chelsea Byers also points to reduced foot traffic since the pandemic as a contributing factor. “For us as a city, it’s about what we can continue to do to make sure that West Hollywood reads as a business-friendly community, has people walking around, coming out, wanting to spend their dollars,” Byers said.
Adding to the list of closures, Chin Chin, a cherished Chinese restaurant, announced its Sunset location will close in July via social media. Despite these losses, Byers notes that new businesses opening in West Hollywood have outnumbered closures over the past year.
“It’s not up for every business to have to stay open forever and ever,” Byers said. “It does bring sadness, but we’re seeing that turnover happen as well.”
Lets be honest, the sunset strip has become an interstate. People use it as a cut through not a destination. This is because its not walkable. Theres no trees to shade people who arent in cars. The sidewalks are not comfortable. Its withering because no one wants to spend time there outside of 2 plazas. If we want to bring it back its going to take a complete street scape overhaul.
None of the infrastructure you describe existed when it was a thriving scene (for decades) so its clearly not the issue holding Sunset back (the scene being nightlife oriented, not blazing heat of the day)
There is not ONE CITY that Democrats run that is SAFE, CLEAN, Well Run, No Homeless overrun, not full of illegal aliens, decent taxes, good schools. It truly is pathetic and a glaring spotlight on the Far Left money like the George Soros and Roy Singham (CCP money) that now control the party many of us grew up with.
Yup. Every single one of them is an absolute mess. You would think that for the amount we all pay in taxes we’d wake up…but no, people keep voting the same way expecting better results. FAILED POLICIES have gotten us to where we are.
And yet California is Democratic run and is, by far, the most prosperous state in the union.
And yet California has the most dirty, disgusting, and dangerous off ramps in the country. You can’t tell if you’re in Tijuana or on Cahuenga Blvd. It’s filthy everywhere.
What? it is a legal small Municipality within the Greater LA County. After living here over 3 decades, business are totally closed on several big streets there is an unnatural number of homeless and crime is now rampant & scary to most residents Don’t know if you have your eyes open when you are in West Holiday. It appears to tourists and many residents I personally, me know WeHo Pushes out business and seems able to draw more homeless than I guess any other city (on a per-capita) George Soros is not interested in weho for good or bad. Lives… Read more »
This has sepi’s skid stains all over sunset. Results of her reign as the first of everything. And the first to kill sunset.
Protect the Whisky A Go-Go like it is the Shroud of Turin!
It’s really easy blame the homeless for all the problems. But do YOU have a solution? We are talking about human beings. I could happen to any of us. Many of us are living paycheck to paycheck. Instead of complaining, help find solutions. It’s only going to get worse. AI will produce layoffs, filming is down, places are closing. Instead of worrying where you can purchase your next Berkin, donate some of that money to charities that are working tirelessly to help these people. Often with no recognition.
Why does Beverly Hills not have homeless on their streets? There is a solution but instead we turn motels that are eyesores into pricey temporary homes which bring down property values and is not a long term solution. Many need mental health treatment and much prefer rebuilding mental health state institutions where those that commit crimes can get care. Those who do not commit crimes are vagrants and should be told to move to another community or simply relocate them to Joshua Tree. It’s peaceful there
Same concern, but the second you are ever Evicted/Homeless and no longer “a resident of weho” and on your own I fear it for same situation. Old & On fixed income. weho didn’t pay their mandatory obligation per requesting city charter ship. No a tiny city can’t afford to create any social services for their city. The County Los Angeles has tons of social services of every kind Housing, health, transportation … all. WEHO just didn’t pay their annual amount calculated by number of residents and that year, one foot almost out the door to being homeless, my long term… Read more »
It’s sad to see so many places closing on the Sunset Strip. I remember Le Petit Four – their outdoor seating was perfect for people-watching. It definitely feels like something’s shifting there. When I’m feeling nostalgic for simpler times, sometimes I just play the Dinosaur Game on Chrome; it’s surprisingly relaxing. Maybe the Strip needs to find something that connects with people in a similar, easy way. A classic reboot, perhaps?
ChinChin and Le Petit Four were both products of a greedy manager whom wouldn’t renew their leases. ChinChin was in the process of developing plans as they were promised to take over Le Petit Four. Management decided they didn’t want them after all. The mayor’s statement that business’s don’t need to stay open forever isn’t valid for these closures. They both wanted to stay but greed and the idea of something better is coming is false. The vacancies are astounding and I really would like to see the list of new businesses and developments that outpace the closures. The Sunset… Read more »
The mayor is spinning so much that I’m surprised she isn’t dizzy!
She cannot admit that recent city council decisions, which included her, have helped to speed along the demise of The Sunset Strip! If she did, it might hurt her obviously ambitious future political aspirations.
In her defense, she is a Johnny-come-lately to our little city and knows nothing about the glorious history of Sunset Boulevard… a history that is so rich that an Oscar winning film and a Tony winning play were written about it!
And yet I think we can all applaud Mayor Bass’ strong leadership against the ProudBo– I mean, ICE raids trying to rape our city to death. You can’t deny she’s really gone above and beyond for us
No one wants to walk to a $$$$ Restaurant or even a $ Restaurant and stroll thru the layers of homeless that line our streets. Hell shopping at Pavilions is enough to make one go on a hunger strike. The homeless problem is handicapping and stalling our city. They need off the street and they shouldn’t have a say in the matter. They are filthy, unsanitary, unsafe, belligerent and a threat to the community.
This is 100% accurate! It seems like we’re at a crossroads where we either take back our city or move elsewhere and just relinquish it to the homeless street wackos. I’m so tired of the narrative that seems to favor their rights over those of working, tax paying citizens.
Yup. What are they going to do when their tax base shrinks? So many people and businesses have already left the state. (and why shouldn’t they? We pay such high taxes while our quality of life deteriorates). We’re going to be in an even bigger mess if we keep going down the same road with these progressive crazy bullish*t policies. One failure after another has gotten us to where we are. Vote differently.
YUP. It’s not rocket science. They raised the minimum wage which increased prices at all restaurants. Who wants to pay $30 (or more) for a chicken dish along with $20 glasses of wine when you have to walk filthy streets, and dodge homeless (addicts and mentally ill). That’s not a fun night out. I used to dine out all the time in Weho. Now I have people over. We buy a $15 dollar bottle of wine at Trader Joe’s and make a pizza. Save a helluva lot of money and we don’t have to put up with crap (literally). Our… Read more »
Agee completely.
There’s not really a lot of homeless people up on Sunset so I don’t know what you’re talking about
The city has to make our retail boulevards more appealing to consumers. For example, when they spent millions on the upgrade of Melrose between La Cienega and San Vicente, why didn’t they add infrastructure to hang holiday lights in the trees and play music? Beverly Hills does this exceptionally well as do so many other shopping streets in LA. West Hollywood never gets it quite right.
Fed, you nailed it. To quote you, “West Hollywood never gets it right” is right on the mark. There have been some great ideas and plans out there over the years that have been thrown out our were completely distorted that if they did get put into action were totally void of the mission it was supposed to accomplish.
WEHO’s Far Left leaders in NO way want to play up “Christmas” …it’s really pathetic. They are too concern they might offend their unhinged anarchists.