A Laurel Hardware sign went up at the side of the building at 8445 Santa Monica Boulevard, located on the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Olive Drive (east of Barney’s Beanery). The signage has community members wondering if Laurel Hardware restaurant is moving from its original location at 7984 Santa Monica Boulevard to the former home of Stampede Ventures, a movie/television content creating company which moved to Studio City some time in 2022/23.
Laurel Hardware – Photo by Mike Pingel for WEHO TIMESYou asked, so we asked, and according to a source at Laurel Hardware, the restaurant is exploring a new concept at this location which is co-owned by Phil Howard and Dean McKillen, the owners of restaurants Laurel Hardware.
The source couldn’t say much, but they did reveal that the original Laurel Hardware restaurant is not going anywhere, so we can put those rumors to rest.
The new restaurant will be coming to the corner of Santa Monica and Olive. It will not be named Laurel Hardware like the sign suggests and the new restaurant will have similar menu items to Laurel Hardware, but it will be its own entity for the most part.
A portion of the building obtained approval recently for a change of use and interior remodel from office to restaurant use with outdoor dining along Santa Monica Boulevard. There are currently 29 on-site, at-grade, parking spaces at the rear of the building.
In 2018, Howard and McKillen, who also own Ysabel restaurant 945 N Fairfax Ave in West Hollywood, partnered with Zach Vella of real estate company Vella Group and Barney’s Beanery owner David Houston who revealed plans to develop 8445-8457 Santa Monica Boulevard into an eight-story, mixed-use building with hotel and apartment units, an entertainment venue, and retail shops and restaurants.
It’s not yet clear if the redevelopment idea was scrapped, nor how that plan fits in with whatever restaurant is coming to that corner, but the Laurel Hardware sign accomplished what it set out to do, which is get our attention.
We’ll be watching and posting updates on what’s coming to this location.
Nice reporting Paulo! The east end of West Hollywood need all of the positive success that it is able to have. It is hard for businesses to stay open. I wish them nothing but success. I am native Southern California gay man. I was 21 in 1976 and the changes I have seen, for better or worse, are amazing.
For some reason I have always had extremely foggy childhood memories of a restaurant in that location decades ago. Like before the celebrity stock exchange. Perhaps as far back as the 80s. Am I crazy? There are a few tenants that I definitely recall. Rampage moved in in the later half of the last decade. Before that, the building was occupied by the YouTube channel / content aggrigator Macinema. They were bought out by WB and then went defunct spectacularly. M moved there at sometime 2008-2011. The aforementioned celebrity stock exchange was there at least as far back as the… Read more »
The building was originally built for gay photog herb ritt’s father’s furniture store. Herb Ritts Sr. designed stuff like this: https://www.1stdibs.com/buy/herb-ritts-lucite/
Great scoop!
Oh yes … I have been enjoying public sex in the parking lot for many years and I hope to continue to do so for many years to come it’s a wonderful free open space for all to use!! As a matter fact it was a wonderful gangbang their last night
Weird, the whole thing is weird. The building is weird, the location is weird and the sign is weird. This comment is weird.
Great news. Smart to not leave their current spot with that great patio, and this is a fantastic high profile location for a new place. They can hire the staff that La Boheme let go, so staffing should not be an issue. The patio will add a lot of vibrancy to the corner.