Lisa Vanderpump’s Pump Lounge Restaurant is closing in the city of West Hollywood after being at 8948 Santa Monica Boulevard for the past 10 years.
“It’s with heavy hearts that we announce that the lease at Pump Restaurant is expiring, and we will be closing its doors on July 5th, after 10 years of beautiful evenings under our olive trees,” a source at Lisa Vanderpump’s Pump Lounge told TMZ. “While we have loved our time operating Pump, to take on another 10-year lease with a huge increase in rent by the landlords, is not something we are ready to commit to. After successfully running 37+ establishments for many years, this type of rent is untenable.”
A sources close to the family told TMZ that Lisa and her husband Ken Todd refuse to commit to paying nearly $1 million in yearly rent in West Hollywood.
The space on the corner of Monica Boulevard and Robertson Boulevard is currently up for lease on LoopNet, the online marketplace for commercial property, primarily providing commercial property listings for sale and for lease in the U.S. The 2,865 SF space is listed as storefront retail. Terms are currently negotiable and the rental rate has not yet been made public, but is available upon request.
We reported here first that two highly profiled West Hollywood restaurants partly owned by the reality TV star and animal rights activist were in hot water with the California Department of Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC). The liquor licenses for Pump Lounge, and Tom Tom Restaurant and Bar, which is located down street, both had their liquor licenses suspended on Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
The license suspension sparked rumors that PUMP had been in trouble for serving liquor to a minor, and serving for serving inebriated patrons, all which appear to have been fabricated according to ABC, which would have listed any infractions by now. The ABC hold was described as a B/E Collections Suspension.
“We look forward to welcoming you all to TomTom & Sur in the months following,” the source tells TMZ. “Thank you for the past decade of support, we have loved our staff, our patrons and our time together.”
TMZ reports Vanderpump wanted to keep Pump Lounge open through June during Pride Month and as a way to “support the local community with one last hurrah.”
Her landlord is a scammer w/Church of Scientology connections! LANDLORD: Elie Samaha – also owns the Roxbury on the Strip. Samaha is a Lebanese-American film producer and executive who has worked in the entertainment industry for many years. He is perhaps best known for producing a number of films, including “Battlefield Earth” and “The Boondock Saints”. Film producer = untrustworthy sleazeball w/money who wants to sleep w/starlets by being a “producer” Scientology was snookered by the producers of battlefield earth who essentially sponged off stars vanity projects (in this case Travolta). They raised 80 mil for BE and spent 40 mil.… Read more »
Yep, I don’t blame her. Who else is going to pay $83,000 a month rent for a space less than 3000 Sq ft? Who owns that property? Monty Overstreet?
Ok, turn it back into a coffee shop or taco joint. See how long they can make it!
EXACTLY! If they are trashing her rent what chance to the rest of us have??
Can we bring Tacos Tacos back!!!
Sad to see it go. Not many options to dine out at that end of the Blvd. Only bars/clubs with the exception of Bottega Louie which is crazy expensive due to rent and cost of doing business in this business UNfriendly city.
Finally. 10 years too long
Well, she improved the property, so it’s a win for the landlord.
If an overpriced trendy restaurant attached to one of the most famous reality stars can’t pay rent on that space, who could?
Landlords are out of their f*cking minds in this city.
Trendy? No. Touristy? Yes. Overpriced, mediocre food and bad service? Yes. I’m sure they were barely scraping by, currently.
It always looked busy to me.
Greedy building owners hedged their bets with greedy restaurant owners and lost. That rent is untenable for most businesses so it’ll be interesting to see if it sits empty for long. The square footage is too small for many too