RESTAURANTS SEEN IN THE MOVIES

[shrimponthabarbie]

I am visiting LA with a friend and want to eat in a decent restaurant that has been included in a famous movie scene like, the cicada in pretty woman. Any ideas???
thanks

[Cinnamon]

You could just go to Jiraffe and claim the aforementioned scene (a few posts up) really did happen there, because Jiraffe is a nice place to eat.

[Glencora]

Does anyone know the name of the cafe on Telegraph Avenue that Dustin Hoffman visits in The Graduate?

[shrimponthabarbie]

by the way - thanks for all the tips!

[xman887]

that would be jack rabbit slim's, daddy-o. $5 shakes - martin & lewis or amos & andy. love that place.

tried to find out the answer to this question once on google. unfortunately, i think it was just a hollywood set.

[shrimponthabarbie]

does anyone know if the scene from pulp fiction where thurman and travolta dance is a real restaurant?

[Friend of Bill]

Sure. Duke's at the Tropicana.

[Polecat]

Bonus points for the movie-nut/foodie who can unearth this one for me:
Does anyone out there remember an independent '80's movie, starring Peter Coyote, Nick Mancuso and Kathryn Harrold, called "Heartbreakers"?
In that film, there's a scene that takes place in a burger joint; I'm pretty sure it's FatBurger, because Coyote's character mentions it by name.
Yet, the two lead men frequent another joint, which they refer to as Duke's. There are two or three scenes of the restaurant in the movie, including the climactic scene in which Coyote's character breaks into tears.
Can anyone tell me, is Duke's a real place? Anyone ever been there?

[Friend of Bill]

Sure! Duke's at the Tropicana.

[PaulF]

I still eat at Duke's once in a while, but, Duke's moved to Sunset a while back.

[Michele4466]

I remember that movie, funny... I think it is on cable every so often... Was it Fatburger?

BTW: Anyone remember the name of another movie (70's or 80's I think) about the LA music business with Keith Carradine, Lauren Hutton, Harvey Keitel and a whole slew of big name actors...lots of classic LA in that one...

[Polecat]

I think you're talking about "Welcome To L.A.", the film by Alan Rudolph.

And, yeah, I'm pretty sure it was Fatburger in "Heartbreakers".

[Michele4466]

Thanks, it was driving me NUTS! LOL

And, as for Fatburger... I can picture the scene now!

Thanks again...

[PaulF]

Pacific Dining Car (downtown) is featured in Training Day.

"Get yourself a baseball steak."

[David Kahn]

Also featured prominently in the book (though not the movie) LA Confidential.

[PaulF]

Ellroy's books are chock full of references to classic LA scenes and eateries.

I wonder if there really was a Nite Owl?

[coopxl]

Chips in Hawthorne is in the just released Hollywoodland.

[Debbie W]

I was wondering about that place, we just saw Hollywoodland. I thought maybe it was a takeoff on Ship's, yet the art direction in the movie was so well done even if the plot had some holes. So Chips is a real place? Was it around in 1959?

[Pei]

Foo Chow in Chinatown (please correct me if the English name is wrong) was shown in Rush Hour.

The exterior of the restaurant was used, but the interior was a Chinese crime boss's lush, opulent, Oriental front. The real restaurant is much more bare bones.

Good food with a few really tasty regional specialties (dumplings in soup, especially), IIRC. It's been years.

[monku]

Don't forget Canton Kitchen, 12511 Venice Blvd.,Mar Vista from the same movie(Chinese Soul Food restaurant). Take out only.

[Kitchen Queen]

Don't forget about Ricks in Pasadena which is featured on the cover of a Cheryl Crow release.

[kevin]

yeah, i posted above about that. look at the first few posts on the thread, i mentioined that they musthave shot the majority of the film in the environs around lax/westchester area.

buckets of dinah's also, yep.

[NAspy]

yeah we noticed that as well and chalked it up to the limited indie film budget...didn't detract from the movie as a whole I felt...it definitely seemed like the Pann's interior

[kevin]

yeah, musso and frank, and coles.

the recent little miss sunshine had a scene occruing at Pann's on La Tijera.

[writergirl]

Was that really Pann's? I know they read from Pann's menus, but I couldn't tell if it was Pann's interior (it definitely wasn't their exterior.) Did you also notice that they ate take-out chicken from Dinah's? (Although it was supposedly in New Mexico.)

[maybelle]

Cha Cha Cha in Silverlake was featured in Fast and the Furious and Shopgirl.

[Suebee]

Cafe Stella in Silver Lake was in Shopgirl too.

[rumgum]

thanks...i knew it was cha cha cha.

[slacker]

Musso & Frank in Oceans 11.

Cole's in Forrest Gump and some episodes of NYPD Blue and other TV shows (I would NOT eat there, though).

[kevin]

the french dips are not bad, at coles pe buffet. but yeah, the surroundings leave a lot to be desired, this joint is head and shoulders different from phillipe's the oringinal.

[slacker]

Actually, I love the surroundings, love its history as L.A.'s oldest restaurant. Especially love the Red Car sidings as table tops in the back room, esp since the building next door used to house the Red Cars.

But absolutely do not like the food, I think their french dips are pretty bad.

Edit: I meant "surroundings" as in the inside of the restaurant. But outside is fine too, I just love downtown; there's a nearby alley where I see filming sometimes too.

[okie]

Geoffrey's (Malibu) from The Player.

And the stunning view on the cliffs above the ocean will knock anybody's socks off. Food is generally good as well, but it's an expensive alternative.

[Maxmillion]

Also from The Player, the pool at the The Argyle Hotel - 8358 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, California, USA. The scene where Richard E. Grant corners Tim Robbins.

[lizziee]

Spago in The Muse

[BabyLitigator]

Cafe Pinot in Date Movie (yes, I admit I saw it)
Urth Cafe in Entourage (forget which one)
The Palm in Entourage

Not in the Big Lebowski, but you see the wrappers - In & Out

[chica]

Kate Mantilini in "Heat" (1995). There is also a scene from the movie near the entrance.

I also saw Ortolan in an episode of "Boston Legal."

Diedrich's Coffee in Malibu in "Malibu's Most Wanted" -- I did NOT see the entire movie, but saw the interior of the shop when I was speeding through cable.

[Marco Polo]

The BROADWAY DELI was also seen in the movie HEAT.

[DanaB]

The Dresden Room and Swingers in, well, Swingers.

ETA: Oops, I missed the part about it having to be a "decent" restaurant. I'd go to the Dresden for a drink but probably not for food. Swingers is okay for late night chow after you've been drinking, but certainly not a dining destination.

Geoffrey's Restaurant in Malibu was featured in The Player.

[Chowpatty]

Was it Swingers in Swingers? I thought it was the Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop -- what is it called now, the one on Franklin?

[Frank_Santa_Monica]

It's called 101.

[Maxmillion]

Yep, Swingers -- the coffee shop, where the swingers meet up for their heart-to-hearts, is the 101 Coffee Shop, within the Best Western, 6145 Franklin Avenue, east Hollywood‚ and this is where much of the script was actually concocted.

[DanaB]

A google search proves you both right and me wrong. I stand corrected!

Swingers also featured the Derby on Los Feliz (the food there is from Louise's next door, so I wouldn't recommend it either for the food alone).

[jessiebelle]

Rae's Diner on Pico on the westside was in Dogtown, True Romance and a bunch of others.

[David Kahn]

The Ivy (113 N Robertson Blvd, [phone]) is prominently (and kind of accurately) featured in Get Shorty.

I think (but I may be wrong on this) that Pann's (6710 La Tijera Blvd, [phone]) appeared in Pulp Fiction.

I also think the Water Grill (http://www.watergrill.com/ ) was in a scene in one of those Schwarzenegger/DeVito/Ivan Reitman commedies; maybe Junior?

[martyR]

The cafe in Pulp Fiction was on Hawthorne Blvd. and doesn't exist anymore.

[DiveFan]

Yup, the former Hawthorne Diner (I think it was a Penguin coffee shop before that).

[Capybara]

Pann's was in Little Miss Sunshine, though it pretended to be in Arizona or some such place.

[kevin]

yeah, i found that to be very weird. because they visited pann's at the beginning of the movie. i guess they felt most people would not catch that detail.

also, at the start of the film they're eating buckets of chicken from Dinah's in Westchester,

make even though a considerable amount of the film was suppsoed to take place in arizona, they shot a huge chunk of it in the westchester/lax area, hence the use of both dinah's and pann's and at the end the festivities in redondo beach, also lax adjacent.

[Debbie W]

Plus the alleged Pann's in Little Miss Sunshine actually looked a bit more like the Bob's Big Boy in Toluca Lake than the real Pann's. Maybe it was a mish-mash. The Dinah's bucket was a hoot too.

[Das Ubergeek]

Don't actually EAT at The Ivy, or its sister Ivy At The Shore, unless you feel like a $30 hamburger with a heapin' helpin' of attitude. It's places like this that I fight against in my attempts to convince people that all L.A. is not Melrose, and not even all Melrose is Melrose.

[kevin]

if i'm not mistaken ivey at the shore may no officially be gone.

i'll have to double-check though, this may be some just praise for some hounds.

and what's so wrong about an 18 dollar not very good make it yourself ice cream sundae,

[New Trial]

Ivy AT The Shore still exists, it just moved further North on Ocean into the old Fennel space. The food is still hideously expensive and mediocre, though.

[kevin]

oh, so it moved. thanks for the info.

[Pesky_Humans]

I second this. I drove by the Ivy on the way to work for 5 years and only ate there twice. The food is ok, but for the price you can something better just about anywhere in LA. The is the pinnacle of the superb people-watching, crappy-service-from wannabe-actors-and-actresses, high-prices-for-mediocre-food that is the hallmark of dining at the "in" places in Los Angeles - a cliche in every sense.

...and well done on your description of LA / Melrose, etc. When most out-of-towners think about LA, and its fun-in-the-sun laid back attitudes and beautiful people walking around in swimwear, they are actually thinking about San Diego. ©

[kevin]

i think pat and lorraine's mentioned above was where the scene of the hunny bunny festivities was filmed at for Pulp Fiction.

[Muskrat]

What's The Source these days? "Annie Hall."

Also Johnie's at Wilshire and Fairfax. Closed for several years, but still available (according to a sign in the window) for location shoots.

It co-starred in "Miracle Mile," a really good apocalypse pic that very few people saw.

[kevin]

the source is now a meat market (not literally), called cabo cantina

[Polecat]

Glad to see someone else remembers Miracle Mile. A true rarity: the apocalyptic romance.
I like how the grandparents, knowing the world is about to go kablooey, are off for one last trip to Cantor's Deli.

Was Johnie's the diner where all the hubbub gets started?

[jcwla]

Yes, it was. Mare Winningham was a waitress there, Anthony Edwards met-cute her at the Tar Pits, then no-showed for his date b/c of a Rube Goldberg series of events that started with his flicking a cigarette butt and ended with the power in his building going off. One of the very best movies of the '80s, for anyone who loves L.A., Steve De Jarnatt shows a side of it not seen anywhere else. "It's after four in the morning. All the helicopter pilot bars are closed!"

[Polecat]

She was a waitress there in the film? I kind of remember it this way: Edwards eyes her at the Tar Pits. they make a date. one of them - i think it's Edwards - oversleeps, misses the date, and calls her from the diner. I don't think she worked there.
What I do remember is that the blonde from the original cast of Star Trek: Next Generation was one of the customers inside Johnies -she played a high-powered muckity muck.

Then again, I could be wrong about Mare. It is a wild, unforgettable movie.

Back to the thread: I haven't noticed any mention of the Tail of the Pup appearance in True Romance.

[martyR]

Pat and Lorraine's in Eagle Rock -- Resevoir Dogs
The Formosa in Hollywood -- L.A. Confidential
The Far East Cafe in Little Tokyo -- Farewell My Lovely

[cvc]

Akwa in Santa Monica - "Get Shorty"

[Maxmillion]

Doesn't Chili Palmer (Travolta's char in Get Shorty) push a thug down the stairs at JiRaffe in Santa Monica?