We can finally stand down on watching endless hours of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood – Musso and Frank Grill reopens for dining room service on Thursday, May 6.  

As part of the celebration, the oldest restaurant in Hollywood makes its comeback with a special Mother’s Day treat – Musso’s will be open to customers on Monday, May 10, starting at 5 p.m., marking the first time in decades they will be serving guests on a Monday. It will be the only Monday the restaurant will be open.

“It’s been a long journey these last few months, that’s for sure,” Mark Echeverria, COO, CFO  tells L.A. Weekly. “I never thought running a closed restaurant would be more work than running a restaurant that is open.”

The iconic grill on Hollywood Blvd. managed to weather the pandemic storm by taking advantage of various government programs including two PPP disbursements and a Go Fund Me account that has raised $120,000 which gave some substantial help to the team to reimburse their cost of living expenses.  

“We were able to retain the vast majority of our team,” says Echeverria. “Two guys that have been working for us retired and another couple moved out of the area. Out of 84 employees we kept 78.”

The fourth generation member of the family of owners has been in touch with the team through weekly Zoom meetings for the past year, staying in close contact and keeping up morale.

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The old room at Musso’s (Michele Stueven)

“They told me that the financial help was greatly appreciated to get them through some very tough times, but what was even more rewarding for them was to see the Musso community overwhelmingly show up,” he says. “That was the biggest reward. It will be so great to see the team interact with the donors when those doors open again for the first time on May 6. They felt like VIPs the way the community stepped up for them.”

In addition to a lot of dusting, cleaning, navigating government programs, immunizations and a few more film shoots during the past year, an expansion of the Musso space that began during their centennial in 2019 is nearly complete and will open in June, along with the rest of the state. It will feature three private dining rooms brought on by popular demand from longtime customers. Together with the Gensler design firm, meticulous detail has gone into continuing the restaurant’s historic feel into the new space and will include temperature-controlled wine vaults, custom wood paneling two-thirds of the way up, topped with a hand painted mural.

“They look fantastic and are so Musso’s and we’re really excited to bring this added experience,” Echeverria says.

 

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