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They call themselves the "Oldest in Hollywood"--restaurant, that is. The Musso & Frank Grill has been celebrating their 90-plus years now of serving folks martinis and steaks in their iconic dim, clubby interior located right in the heart of mean-ol' Hollywood Boulevard.
Once upon a time, Joseph Musso and Frank Toulet opened up their eatery in a town that was just coming into its own, as folks journeyed west to fulfill Los Angeles' Edenic promise of eternal sunshine and agricultural and economic bounty. The movie business took hold, and soon the restaurant became "a favorite watering hole of writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner (who mixed his own mint julips here), John O'Hara, Dorothy Parker, Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler - even Ernest Hemingway," notes the Seeing Stars site, not to mention a haunt for movie and music stars from the 1920s to today.
A feature on NPR today spotlights the famous restaurant, which just last month began to offer up late-night weekend service for the first time in their 90 years of business.
A couple of years ago LAist shared our love for the stalwart restaurant, celebrating that "Everything Old is New Again." Help them celebrate and head over for a cocktail or a meal and savor a bite of local history--you'd be part of a real LA institution: "Some customers have been coming in for over 50 years. The restaurant offers a rare sense of permanence and continuity on the ever-changing Hollywood Boulevard."
Congrats on the past 90 years, Musso & Frank...may there be many, many more!
