Who Ate Here? A Century of Regulars at Musso & Frank Grill in Hollywood

If you slide into a red leather booth, the question that comes naturally is not what to order but who sat here before you. Along this stretch of Hollywood Boulevard, the oldest continuing restaurant in the neighborhood remains a working archive of Los Angeles film and literary history. Its neon script still marks the same block at 6667 Hollywood Blvd, and inside you can order dishes tied to named patrons instead of myths. The restaurant opens for dinner Tuesday–Saturday 5–11 pm and Sunday 4–10 pm, with validated parking in the lot behind the building, which spares you the chase for curb space on a busy night.

There is a reason the place earned its own Walk of Fame star on September 27, 2019, set right outside on the Boulevard. The grill has been a hangout for actors and a practical canteen for writers whose offices and bookshops clustered nearby. It is one of the few dining rooms in Los Angeles where you can still attach a price to a story. The daily features schedule is printed plainly: Tuesday corned beef and cabbage, Wednesday sauerbraten with potato pancakes, Thursday homemade chicken pot pie, Friday bouillabaisse, Saturday braised short ribs, and Sunday duck confit. If you are timing a visit to chase a particular tradition, those days matter.

What did the regulars actually order here?

Hollywood lore becomes less hazy when it appears on an active menu with a number beside it. The grill still serves Grilled Lamb Kidneys with Bacon, labeled in-house as Charlie Chaplin’s favorite, for $30–31 depending on preparation. If your image of Old Hollywood leans more toward studio commissary fish, the kitchen keeps a line on the classic Filet of Sandabs sauté meunière for $33, a dish with one foot in California seafood and the other in San Francisco nostalgia that filtered south with studio contracts.

The steak program is not a garnish to the legend; it is the engine. A New York steak (12 oz) sits at $54, the Ribeye at $61, and the Roast Prime Rib with baked potato at $71. If you want to match a plate to a studio-era appetite without going heavy on beef, the Welsh Rarebit persists at $22, as do throwback comforts like Oyster Stew for $29 and Chicken or Turkey à la King at $34. The “classics made to order” section is not a costume. It is a functioning repertoire that nods to diners who ate the same recipes within earshot of typewriters and telephones that once lined this street.

Starlets did not live on steak alone, and neither does the current crowd. Cold seafood still has pride of place: a Shrimp Cocktail runs $27, the more elaborate Seafood Chiffonade Salad with lobster, Dungeness crab, and shrimp is $46, and the old-school Crab Louie sits at $40. The appetizer page keeps the house’s unfussy pantries in rotation, from Marinated Herring at $22 to Stuffed Celery with Roquefort mousse for $17, and it still makes room for Musso’s Traditional Steak Tartare at $27, a dish that reminds you this was once a lunch room for people who measured their days in drafts and dailies.

The grill’s beverage ritual is theatrical, but the numbers are straightforward. From the current wine and spirits list, the Musso Espresso Martini prices at $18, and a short set of zero-proof cocktails comes in at $13. That sits comfortably next to a plate of Flannel Cakes served all day, a holdover from the breakfast era, priced at $13 with syrup or $15 with fruit and cream. These are not museum props. They are line items you can order tonight, and they frame how accessible the room still is to anyone curious about its past.

Old Room, New Room, and the bar: which seat tells the best story?

There are really two rooms here, and each has its partisans. The “Old Room” is the lower-lit, quieter space associated with veteran captains and the grill counter. The grill is not a chef’s table designed for spectacle. It is a working station that once served as a daily perch for regulars, and it still works as the vantage point for diners who want to watch fish and chops move from heat to plate. Sit there if hearing the short-hand orders is part of your goal.

The “New Room” opened in the 1950s when the restaurant expanded into the space that had been the Stanley Rose Bookshop next door. That move also shifted the bar into its current, more public position. If your own idea of Hollywood history leans toward the writers who treated the place like an office annex, the New Room bar makes it easy to see the throughline, from studio contracts and hardboiled novels to television scripts. The hours make the decision tactical as well. With doors at 5 pm Tuesday–Saturday and 4 pm Sunday, an arrival right at opening is the simplest way to get your bearings before the room fills with reservations.

For a certain kind of diner, the most faithful seat is any booth. The room labels remind you that working Hollywood ate here without carving out private rooms and camera traps. Along the back of the Old Room, the captain’s sections still run like clockwork. At the bar, martinis are still stirred, not shaken, a point the house states plainly and performs nightly. If you want to chase continuity, order a Calf’s Liver Steak at $35 or the more compact Calf’s Liver with onions or bacon at $34, then add Creamed Spinach for $18 and Lyonnaise Potatoes for $17. You will recognize the food as much as the room recognizes the people who return to it.

How did a Hollywood grill become a writers’ canteen?

The geography matters. In the 1930s and 40s, the Boulevard was an address for bookstores, publicity offices, and union halls. The most notable neighbor was the Stanley Rose Bookshop at 6661½ Hollywood Blvd, just east of the restaurant’s current doors. When the shop closed, the grill absorbed its footprint for the New Room, and the bar that had tucked itself away in the back moved into a spot where a writer could see and be seen. Diners still talk about the line from the counter to the booths that formed the day’s gossip loop.

The literal landmark status comes later. The restaurant’s centennial brought attention that had been building for decades, culminating in that star on the sidewalk in 2019. Inside, the continuity shows up as named dishes and steady service rather than roped-off tableaux. The Original Fettuccine Alfredo, tied to silent-era newlyweds who hauled the recipe back from Rome, appears now at $30, and the kitchen treats it like a living document rather than a plaque. If you want to place yourself in the lineage of people who drank and drafted here, build a meal the way regulars still do: one serious plate, one side, one drink, and one short story of your own to tell about it later.

The practicalities still fit the neighborhood. The posted hours keep it a dinner house that respects showtimes at nearby theaters and live venues. The phone on the site still rings to the host stand at (323) 467-7788. The restaurant lists validated parking behind the building to keep the pre-show sprint reasonable if you are heading to the Pantages or a screening afterward. If you are chasing a specific daily feature like that Thursday chicken pot pie, build the date around it. The menu does not stage these throwbacks as seasonal stunts. They are the bones of the place.

If you want the Old Hollywood feel tonight, where else compares and how does it differ?

Musso & Frank is the spine of the story, but a short walk or quick rideshare connects you to other spots where the neighborhood’s past still operates in the present. Here is a quick, factual comparison to match what you want from the night to what each room actually does.

These rooms are not interchangeable. Musso & Frank is a seated dinner that still cooks over a live grill and prints daily features. The Formosa is a time-capsule of West Hollywood studio history with a full kitchen and a schedule that starts at midday. The Frolic Room is a bar for a pre- or post-show hour that starts pouring at 11 am. Boardner’s shifts from happy hour to nightlife and maintains a clear policy that any cover on certain events comes from outside promoters. Pick the one that matches what you need from the evening, then let the street fill in the rest.

The Boulevard outside the booth

Part of the appeal of Musso & Frank is what waits within two or three blocks of its doors. The Frolic Room at 6245 Hollywood Blvd has been open since the early 1940s and keeps modern service hours until 2 am nightly, which makes it reliable if you want a digestif after a late seating. Just around the corner, Boardner’s at 1652 N Cherokee Ave has held on since 1942 and still prints a daily rhythm of bar events, with a posted happy hour 5–8 pm Monday–Saturday and all day Sunday. The formality is different at each stop, but the history is not decoration. It is the reason they are still there.

Back inside Musso & Frank, the food backs up the story without leaning on it. The fish list runs from Branzino $42 to Pan‑seared Scallops $41, and the Italian section folds in a few time-travelers such as Rigatoni with Lamb Ragout $30 and the Original Fettuccine Alfredo $30 that owes its presence to a pair of silent-era newlyweds. Sides have the swagger of a steakhouse: Creamed Spinach $18, Potatoes au Gratin $18, and French fries, either steak cut or julienne, at $15. If you want to see how the house treats a nightcap for someone who has to be on set before dawn, the zero-proof cocktail list at $13 gives you a clean landing without leaving the ritual behind.

The most direct comparison, though, is across time rather than across the street. The place still treats working Hollywood like a neighbor, not a spectacle. That is why the host stand’s posted dinner hours are as much a navigational detail as any price. It is why the validated lot behind the restaurant is as critical to a 7 pm call time as it would have been to a 7 pm curtain. And it is why a plate like Duck Confit on Sundays still arrives on hot china instead of in a frame on the wall.

Key takeaways before you go

• Musso & Frank operates as a dinner house: Tue–Sat 5–11 pm and Sun 4–10 pm, with validated parking behind the building.
• If you want a specific tradition, match your day: Thursday is chicken pot pie, Friday bouillabaisse, Saturday short ribs, and Sunday duck confit.
• Budget with real figures: Filet of Sandabs $33, Prime Rib $71, Welsh Rarebit $22, and a Musso Espresso Martini $18 from the current list.
• The neighborhood has honest alternatives. The Frolic Room runs daily 11 am–2 am. Boardner’s keeps 5 pm–2 am hours with Happy Hour 5–8 pm Mon–Sat and all day Sun. Formosa Cafe operates 12–11 pm Sun–Wed and 12 pm–12 am Thu–Sat with weekend brunch.
• For a lighter nod to tradition, the all‑day Flannel Cakes sit at $13–15 and the zero‑proof cocktails at $13.

Reader Q&A

Is the chicken pot pie a permanent item or seasonal?

It is on the printed daily features schedule for Thursdays, alongside bouillabaisse on Fridays and short ribs on Saturdays. If you care about that specific dish, pick a Thursday and plan dinner for the restaurant’s posted hours.

What time should I show up if I want a booth in the Old Room?

Doors open at 5 pm Tuesday–Saturday and 4 pm on Sunday. Arriving at opening gives you the calmest view of the room before reservations fill in, and the posted hours make it easy to align a seating with a nearby show.

What is a realistic check for a “classic” order?

You can build a plate-to-story lineup from the current figures: Welsh Rarebit $22 to start, Filet of Sandabs $33 or a New York steak $54 for the main, and a Musso Espresso Martini $18 or a $13 zero‑proof drink. Sides like Creamed Spinach $18 and French fries $15 are à la carte.

Where do I park and how late can I linger afterward?

The restaurant posts validated parking behind the building. If you want another stop nearby after dinner, the Frolic Room pours until 2 am daily and Boardner’s keeps the same late hours, with a posted happy hour earlier in the evening.

To narrow your decision, decide whether you are going for a named daily feature on a specific night or to re-enact a plate tied to a regular. If it is the former, book the day; if it is the latter, build the meal with the numbers above and let the room’s service carry the history the rest of the way.

Published: September 10, 2026 · Reviewed by the Holywood editorial team