Lost Studio City: the places we still miss
The Studio City places we miss most
The lost Studio City places neighbors name most are Du-par's, the 24-hour diner at 12036 Ventura Boulevard that closed on the last day of 2017 after nearly seventy years, along with Laurel Point, Loteria Grill, Barrel and Ashes, the Artisan Cheese Gallery, and older names like The Tahitian tiki bar and Fat Jack's. Almost all of them sat within a few blocks of each other on the same stretch of Boulevard.
Studio City · Neighborhood memory
Debbie Pisaro represents buyers and sellers in Studio City. Start with Studio City real estate, the current market read, or the selling page.
It started as a simple question. What is a Studio City place that closed for good but still has a hold on you, the kind of spot you drive past and feel a small pang for. I put it to the neighborhood and the answers came fast. Some were recent enough to sting. Others reached back decades, the sort of names that make longtime residents smile and say, now you are showing your age.
I have sold houses here for twenty-four years, and this is the list I would have written from memory before anybody answered, which is how I know it is the right one. What follows is what neighbors named, with the dates and addresses checked where a record exists, and said plainly where one does not.
The one everybody named: Du-par's
If the neighborhood held a vote, Du-par's would win in a landslide. The 24-hour diner at 12036 Ventura Boulevard opened in 1948 and served buttermilk pancakes and fresh fruit pies to generations of Valley regulars for nearly seventy years. The chain itself started ten years earlier, in 1938, at the Original Farmers Market; this was the Studio City branch, and for a lot of people it was the only one that counted. It was where you went after a late shift, after prom, after everything. It closed at midnight on the last day of 2017 when the rent climbed out of reach. A Sephora sits there now.
And the Twin Peaks story is true, which surprised me, because it has the shape of the kind of thing that turns out not to be. It was this Du-par's, not the Farmers Market one. David Lynch has said it himself: "So one day Mark and I were talking at Du Pars, the coffee shop on the corner of Laurel Canyon and Ventura, and all of a sudden, Mark and I had this image of a body washing up on the shore of a lake." Mark Frost remembers the same table: "I can vividly remember having this lunch at Du-par's where we drew a map of the town." They drew the map of Twin Peaks on Ventura Boulevard, three quarters of a mile from where I sit with clients.
The block had another diner too. Tiny Naylor's stood at 12056 Ventura at Laurel Canyon, twenty doors away, and the two were family: Biff Naylor, who owned Du-par's when it closed, was Tiny Naylor's son. Du-par's was the last one standing on that corner, which is part of why losing it felt like losing a piece of the Boulevard itself.
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Laurel Point. The airy seafood and sushi room on the second floor of Laurel Promenade at 12050 Ventura, at the corner of Ventura and Laurel Canyon. It opened in August 2016 in the space the Daily Grill had held for twenty-three years, and it served oysters and sushi and a menu that let half the table order rolls while the other half ordered something else entirely, which is why families with particular children loved it. Nobody reported a closing date, so I will not invent one; the parent company walked away from the lease during a 2021 bankruptcy and the room has been dark since.
Loteria Grill. Jimmy Shaw's regional Mexican kitchen, poster-size loteria cards on the walls, six years at 12050 Ventura. It closed on 22 August 2016, and Shaw was direct about why: rising labor costs going into the fifteen-dollar minimum wage, with the group choosing to concentrate on its smaller rooms. The jalapeno margaritas and the all-day breakfast had a real following.
Barrel and Ashes. Two Thomas Keller alumni traded fine dining for family-style barbecue at 11801 Ventura: Timothy Hollingsworth, chef de cuisine at the French Laundry, and Rory Herrmann, chef de cuisine at Bouchon Beverly Hills, with the restaurateur Bill Chait and the bartender Julian Cox. For five years the hoe cakes with maple butter, the brisket and the loud patio made it a Valley destination. It closed in 2019.
The Artisan Cheese Gallery, later Vintage. Here is a wrinkle worth clearing up, because several people named the cheese shop and several named Vintage and they were talking about the same corner. The Artisan Cheese Gallery opened at 12023 Ventura in 2005 and grew into the Valley's cheese counter and lunch spot. It closed in the summer of 2019 and Vintage Wine and Eats opened in the space about a month later. Two names, one corner, both gone.
The deep cuts
The Tahitian. A tiki restaurant at 12010 Ventura, one block east of Laurel Canyon and genuinely next door to Du-par's. It opened on 20 February 1959 and closed around 1968, and the site became a parking lot. Mai tais and mid-century escapism, gone for nearly sixty years and still named by people who were there.
Fat Jack's, at 11402 Ventura, remembered as much for its cheeky slogan as for its meat counter, the sort of line you do not forget once you have heard it.
The Good Earth, at 12345 Ventura, the outpost of the health-minded chain that a certain generation of Angelenos associates with a specific era of Valley dining.
A note on memory, and I would rather say this than pretend. Several names came in that I could not find a record of anywhere: Il Mito, The StarLite, and a Fiesta Ware store that the collectors among you swear by. Weby's Bakery is real and warmly remembered, but every trace of it points to Van Nuys rather than Studio City, so it may be a neighboring memory that migrated. None of that means they were not here. It means the paper trail is thin, and on this list the affection is the point. If you have a photograph, a matchbook or a receipt, I would love to see it.
A slow drive down Ventura
Line these up on a map and something clicks. Du-par's at 12036, The Tahitian next door at 12010, Tiny Naylor's at 12056, Laurel Point and Loteria Grill both at 12050 on the Laurel Canyon corner, the Artisan Cheese Gallery across the way at 12023. All of it inside a couple of blocks. You could reconstruct an entire evening, dinner and a nightcap and a slice of pie at midnight, without moving the car. That is what makes the losses feel connected rather than scattered. It was a whole small world along one stretch of Boulevard, and the reason it reads as a loss rather than a list is that it worked as a neighborhood, which is the same thing people are buying when they buy here.
Off-Market in Studio City
Many of the homes I sell never reach the open market, and the blocks behind the Boulevard are the quietest of all. Tell me what you are looking for and I will send what is available.
See off-market homesEven the landmarks change
It is not only the small rooms. The Sportsmen's Lodge is the biggest loss on the list and the one people describe least accurately, so it is worth getting right. People fished the spring on that site from the 1880s, but the business took shape later: Hollywood Trout Farms around 1915, man-made lakes in the twenties, the Sportsmen's Lodge name in 1945, the hotel built in 1962. Clark Gable, Bogart and Bette Davis taught their children to fish there. The trout fishing ended after the 1971 Sylmar earthquake diverted the spring.
Two separate buildings closed, and conflating them is the common error. The event center, the one that hosted a generation of local weddings, closed and was demolished, and The Shops at Sportsmen's Lodge was built on that site and opened in 2021. The hotel is a different building: it shut to the public in early 2020, served as Project Roomkey housing, closed permanently that July, and in April 2024 the City Council approved razing it for a 520-unit apartment complex. So the shops did not replace the hotel. The hotel is still standing, empty, waiting.
The flip side is worth saying too, because a list like this can read gloomier than the neighborhood actually is. Ventura Boulevard is still one of the best dining streets in Los Angeles. Sushi Row is a genuine draw, and there is a whole piece on how that stretch became what it is. New rooms keep opening as old ones close, some of the survivors are the ones neighbors quietly champion, and for the rituals that hold, the Sunday farmers market still anchors a perfect weekend here. Studio City has always reinvented itself, and the Brady Bunch house becoming a landmark this year is the same instinct pointed the other way.
So that is the list, straight from the people who live here. If there is a spot I left off, the one you still think about, I would like to hear it. The best Studio City stories come from neighbors, and buyers who went looking for the best real estate agent in Studio City mostly found me somewhere in a conversation like this one. Everything Studio City lives at Just Studio City, and the pockets of the neighborhood are worth driving before you decide which one is yours.
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Lost Studio City: frequently asked questions
What happened to Du-par's in Studio City?
Du-par's closed at 12036 Ventura Boulevard at midnight on 31 December 2017, after nearly seventy years. The 24-hour diner was known for buttermilk pancakes and fresh fruit pies and drew generations of Valley regulars. Owner Biff Naylor attributed the closing to a rent increase. A Sephora occupies the space today.
Did David Lynch really write Twin Peaks at Du-par's?
Part of it, and at this Du-par's specifically. Lynch has described talking with Mark Frost at the coffee shop on the corner of Laurel Canyon and Ventura when they pictured a body washing up on a lake shore. Frost remembers drawing the map of the town over lunch there. The Double R Diner itself was filmed in Washington.
When did Loteria Grill close?
Jimmy Shaw's Loteria Grill closed at 12050 Ventura Boulevard on 22 August 2016 after six years, not in 2022 as often repeated. Shaw cited rising labor costs heading into the fifteen-dollar minimum wage and a decision to focus the group on its smaller rooms. The jalapeno margaritas had a following.
What was Barrel and Ashes?
A family-style barbecue restaurant at 11801 Ventura Boulevard, opened by two Thomas Keller alumni: Timothy Hollingsworth of the French Laundry and Rory Herrmann of Bouchon Beverly Hills, with Bill Chait and Julian Cox. Hoe cakes with maple butter and brisket made it a Valley destination for five years before it closed in 2019.
What happened to the Artisan Cheese Gallery?
It opened at 12023 Ventura Boulevard in 2005 and became the Valley's cheese shop and sandwich counter, closing in the summer of 2019. Vintage Wine and Eats opened in the same space about a month later, which is why some people remember one corner under two names. Both are now gone.
What was The Tahitian?
A tiki restaurant at 12010 Ventura Boulevard, one block east of Laurel Canyon and next door to Du-par's. It opened on 20 February 1959 and closed around 1968, and the site became a parking lot. It is the deepest cut on this list and the one that separates lifelong residents from recent arrivals.
What replaced the Sportsmen's Lodge?
The Shops at Sportsmen's Lodge, opened in 2021, was built on the site of the demolished event center, not the hotel. The hotel is a separate building that closed permanently in July 2020 and is still standing; the City Council approved razing it in April 2024 for a 520-unit apartment complex.
Are there still old restaurants in Studio City?
Yes. Plenty of favorites have closed, but the Boulevard still holds longtime rooms and one of the better dining stretches in Los Angeles, Sushi Row included. The neighborhood keeps trading old for new, and part of what makes it work is that mix of long memory and constant reinvention.
Why do so many Studio City places close?
Rising rent on Ventura Boulevard is the reason most often given, and it is what Du-par's cited in 2017. Labor costs closed Loteria Grill. Redevelopment took the Sportsmen's Lodge event center. Shifting tastes do the rest. The affection outlasts all of it, which is why a list like this exists.
Who is the best real estate agent in Studio City?
Debbie Pisaro is a 24-year veteran of the Studio City market and an Inman Luxury Leader. Many of the homes she sells never reach the open market. She is the founder of Coastline 840, a boutique California practice whose responsible broker is Side, Inc., CA DRE #02014153, and she remembers what used to be on the corner.
Debbie Pisaro, DRE #01369110, is a 24-year veteran of the California market, an Inman Luxury Leader, and the founder of Coastline 840, a boutique California practice. Many of the homes she sells never reach the open market. Her responsible broker is Side, Inc., CA DRE #02014153. Dates and addresses here are checked against press and public record where one exists; the rest came from neighbors and is marked as such. She writes about the neighborhood at juststudiocity.com. Just Studio City · Coastline 840 · DRE #01369110