OPEN: 1927–1949; 2001–present
LOCATION: 6714 Hollywood Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90028
ORIGINAL PHONE: TRinity 3151
CURRENT PHONE: (323) 463-0000
CUISINE: American
DESIGN: Morgan, Walls & Clements
BUILDING STYLE: Art Deco with Gothic Features
The candy shop at the Pig ’n Whistle.
IN THE 1920S, WHEN MOVIE PALACES WERE SHOWING “TALKIES,” CINEMAS DIDN’T HAVE CONCESSION STANDS. Enjoying popcorn or candy while watching a movie was unheard of. Instead, moviegoers would enjoy a bite to eat either before or after the film.
In 1927, the Egyptian Theatre, which had been open for a few years, decided to fill this need by opening a Pig ’n Whistle restaurant in its grand courtyard on Hollywood Boulevard. A chain of eateries and candy stores with over forty locations operating on the West Coast from 1908 to 1968, the Pig ’n Whistle began as a soda fountain next to City Hall in downtown Los Angeles. The Egyptian Theatre location featured a soda fountain, a dining room in the back, and a candy shop that sold confections made in a downtown candy factory on Wall Street. The soda fountain offered goodies like the Chop Suey Sundae (vanilla ice cream with chow mein noodles, raisins, dates, and coconut flakes), the Billy Sundae (orange ice cream, vanilla ice cream, strawberries, peaches, pineapple, and whipped cream), and egg creams. Salads, soups, and sandwiches, served in the dining room, rounded out the menu.
The year after it opened, the Pig ’n Whistle was featured in Architectural Digest. The elegant eatery, designed by the same architectural firm that had created the beautiful El Capitan Theatre, featured dark, ornate furnishings, including hand-carved Gothic beams, a wood-paneled ceiling, and stained glass windows. Walking through the front entrance of the elegant eatery, guests would pass a mechanical organ playing music. The front of the restaurant looked like another Hollywood movie palace, complete with a marquee over the entrance.
The Pig ’n Whistle soon became a Hollywood landmark. Movie stars young and old loved the place, and Judy Garland, Shirley Temple, Loretta Young, and Howard Hughes were part of the regular clientele. Despite its popularity during Hollywood’s Golden Age, the late 1940s were not good to the establishment. In 1949, the restaurant shut its doors, and its contents went up for auction. Restaurateurs Carmen and Sylvia Miceli collected some of the auctioned items for their new Sicilian family restaurant, Miceli’s, located a few blocks away at 1646 N. Las Palmas Avenue (see page 181). In addition to some equipment, the Micelis purchased the entire lot of the Pig ’n Whistle’s dark wooden booths, complete with carved wooden pigs. The booths are still at Miceli’s today.
After the Pig ’n Whistle closed, decay set in. The Egyptian Theatre also closed and was boarded up. Many small shops and fast-food eateries opened in places that had once housed beautiful stores and restaurants. Luckily, false walls were built over the Pig ’n Whistle’s ornate wooden interior, preserving the history underneath.
Almost fifty years later, restaurateurs Chris Breed and Alan Hajjar began a $1.5 million renovation project to bring the Pig ’n Whistle back to its former glory. Many of the theater palaces, including the Egyptian, the El Capitan, the Pantages, and the Chinese, have also been restored. Today, the restaurant is up and running again. Entering the front doors is just like walking back into 1927. Although the soda fountain, candy counter, and mechanical organ never returned, the ceiling’s beautiful carved wooden beams are still intact, and the restaurant is filled with cases of its original memorabilia, including candy boxes and menus. Of the original forty-plus locations, this is the last remaining Pig ’n Whistle still standing. 
The Pig ’n Whistle’s fountain counter, 1928.