Los Angeles’s restaurants continue to face difficult headwinds that picked up in the second half of 2023 and led to an industry-wide slowdown. From the lingering impacts of the Hollywood strikes to adverse weather and increased costs (labor, rent, ingredients, etc.), many variables continue to batter restaurant owners who operate on razor-thin margins. Here are notable restaurant closures from September 2024.

Atla Venice

Atla Venice

Enrique Olvera made a splash in the Arts District when he opened Damian and Ditroit back in 2021, but the Mexico City-based chef usually makes his residency in Venice while staying in Los Angeles. In June 2023, he finally opened Atla Venice, his casual all-day restaurant that he also operates in New York City. Atla closed on September 21 while making the following statement: “While we are saddened by this closure, we are also filled with immense gratitude for the experience and connections we’ve made along the way. To our talented team, thank you for your hard work, creativity, and commitment. We are thankful for the opportunity to have served the Venice community, sharing our Mexican identity with pride in a neighborhood we love and will always come back to.”

Ceviche Stop – Culver City

Matthew Kang

Chef Walther Adrianzen’s Culver City Peruvian restaurant closed on September 22 after opening in 2021. Adrianzen announced the closure in an Instagram post, writing that “due to ongoing safety concerns in the neighborhood” he decided to close the Culver City location permanently. Luckily, he has plans to relocate the restaurant to La Puente.

Hart House – Westchester, Monrovia, University Park, Hollywood

Hart House

Kevin Hart’s plant-based fast food chain, Hart House, suddenly shuttered all four of its locations on September 10. Hart House debuted its first location in 2022 in Westchester, followed by locations in Monrovia, University Park, and Hollywood. Instead of using popular vegan products like Beyond or Impossible burgers, Hart House developed its own line of proprietary patties, nuggets, and more.

Isla – Santa Monica

Catherine Dzilenski

The follow-up restaurant from the Crudo e Nudo team, Isla, closed on September 21. The restaurant debuted in April 2023 and was known for its rotating and hyper-locally sourced menu featuring dishes like house-made falafel, caramelized cauliflower with tahini, and roasted lamb saddle.

Mel’s Fish Shack – West Adams

Lucas Peterson

Longtime seafood restaurant Mel’s Fish Shack, which opened nearly 44 years ago from businessman Mel Powell, has closed its location on West Jefferson Boulevard on September 29, but promised to reopen elsewhere. The family made the announcement on Instagram stating:

“We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to all our loyal customers who have supported us throughout the years. Your smiles, stories, and continued patronage made every day special. This isn’t the end, just a chapter that’s closing. We’re excited for what the future holds and will always cherish the memories we’ve created together. Thank you for being a part of our family.”

The casual fried and grilled fish restaurant was known for its buttery fried catfish coated in cornmeal. In an Eater LA article from 2015, writer Lucas Peterson explored the history of Mel’s, which first opened as Mel’s Fish Market in 1982 before expanding to the Fish Shack in 2008. Powell passed away in 2001, and since then the business has been operated by his daughters Janie and Georgette, and granddaughter Ayanna.

Pink Taco – Sunset Strip

Pink Taco

The longtime home of Pink Taco, originally opened by the late restaurateur Harry Morton inside Las Vegas’s Hard Rock hotel in 1999, closed in West Hollywood’s Sunset Strip. Morton was the grandson of Morton’s Steakhouse founder Arnie Morton, and the son of Peter Morton, who opened Hard Rock Cafe. Harry Morton passed away due to a sudden cardiac arrest in 2019.

Pink Taco first came to Los Angeles in 2007, and it was located inside Century City Mall, serving Americanized Mexican food before closing in 2016. Pink Taco’s Sunset Strip first opened in 2012, taking over the longtime Miyagi’s. It closed on September 16 due to the chain’s inability to reach favorable lease terms. The chain still operates locations in New York City, Boston, and Washington D.C. Prior to Miyagi’s, the building was home to the Player’s Club, a classic Hollywood celebrity nightclub whose history goes back to the 1940s.

Poltergeist and Button Mash

Wonho Frank Lee

Groundbreaking restaurant-within-an-arcade-bar Poltergeist, the brainchild of chef Diego Argoti and operated in partnership with Button Mash’s Gabe Fowlkes and Jordan Weiss, closed this month in Echo park. Argoti’s ode to chaos cooking opened in February 2023 with wild preparations of Thai-inspired Caesar salad, yellow curry pasta, chicken heart Waldorf salad, and more. Poltergeist featured as the premiere episode of PBS’s Rebel Kitchens, which was released in August 2024.

Its closure comes alongside the end of Button Mash, an arcade bar that first opened in 2015. Argoti hasn’t announced his next move but will take a while to rest before opening something else: “I’m looking at doing something a lot smaller, more sustainable, and also where I’m focused on the creative part of it,” Argoti told Eater, imagining something that served breakfast and lunch by day, and then a tasting menu by night.

The Sherman – Sherman Oaks

Valley favorite the Sherman closed on September 11 after nine years in business on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks. The restaurant announced its closure in an Instagram post on September 3.

Stay Zero Proof – Chinatown

Stan Lee

The first-ever non-alcoholic cocktail bar in Los Angeles, Stay Zero Proof took over an iconic former Chinese restaurant in Chinatown with a long history with the city’s punk rock music scene. The incredible ambience mostly stayed the same, with founders Summer Phoenix and Stacey Mann earning the trust of the landlord to preserve its traditional Chinese elements. Early on, the bar garnered a big following, but the bar closed on September 14 with the following statement:

“We are immensely proud of what we’ve built at STAY. and the role we’ve played in championing this movement here in L.A. This has been a labor of love, and every person who walked through our doors became part of that mission. It’s incredibly hard to say goodbye, but we are leaving with so much gratitude for what we’ve accomplished together.”

Town Pizzeria – Highland Park

Neighborhood pizzeria Town, which served New York-style slices and whole pies along York Bouelvard, closed earlier this month. Town first opened in 2014 in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood serving affordable, LA-inspired topping combinations from operators Joram young, Scott Lunceford, and Sean Kelly. Prior to Town, the restaurant was known as an outpost of Italiano’s, which still operates an outpost on Figueroa Boulevard. In Town’s place comes a New York City-style pizzeria from Bub & Grandma’s owner Andy Kadin, who hopes to refurbish and open it by 2025.