OPEN: 1975–1996
LOCATION: 8240 Sunset Boulevard West Hollywood, CA 90046
ORIGINAL PHONE: (213) 656-8830
CUISINE: Mexican
BUILDING STYLE: Whimsical
CURRENTLY: Vacant Office Space
Carlos ’n Charlie’s on the Sunset Strip.
IN 1975, THE SUNSET STRIP’S POPULAR MARQUIS RESTAURANT CLOSED AND WAS TRANSFORMED INTO A CLUB AND RESTAURANT NAMED CARLOS ’N CHARLIE’S. The building retained its whimsical style, complete with turrets, a wraparound porch, and a sunroom.
Unlike most of the clubs on Sunset, Carlos ’n Charlie’s served lunch. The restaurant’s taco tray was the most popular item on the menu, offering a choice of chicken or beef, homemade guacamole, two types of cheese, chorizo, and grilled veggies. At dinnertime, the club’s signature dish was the sole medrazo, a fillet of sole with a spinach and cheese topping. The menu was eclectic, including local dishes, fresh fish, and catches from south of the border. Barbecued ribs, tequila shrimp, and spicy tuna dip were also favorites on the menu.
At one time, twenty-eight different Carlos ’n Charlie’s locations were in operation, mainly in Mexico, where the franchise had first been established in 1963. All of the restaurants in the franchise incorporated part of the original Carlos ’n Charlie’s name into their own names. But at the time, the similarities stopped there; each restaurant created and followed its own recipes. Today, the Carlos ’n Charlie’s brand has only eight locations, mostly in Mexican tourist spots, and all of the menus are identical.
Bernice and George Altschul owned the Carlos ’n Charlie’s location on Sunset and ran it with a genuine fondness for their employees, making most of them feel like they were part of a family. The club’s disco, El Privado, was a busy place, showcasing new talent on Tuesday nights and featuring everyone from Joan Rivers to Donna Summer. One night in 1977, the rhythm and blues singer Teddy Pendergrass threw himself a birthday party at El Privado that cost him $10,000. On another night, Tommy Smothers of the Smothers Brothers sat down at the bar, ordered a drink, and asked to run a tab. The bartender, J. Lynn McCall, was very busy but continued to replenish his drink. When it came time to close out, Smothers paid the bill and thanked McCall for the conversation. McCall was amused, since they had only spoken about starting the tab and paying the bill.
Bartender Linda Guillemette.
“The drinks had a heavy pour,” McCall said. “Sometimes fights broke out.”
In the summer of 1988, singer El DeBarge was hospitalized after a man allegedly struck him from behind with a champagne glass at the club. He was treated for neck wounds and underwent surgery.
Despite some rough moments, Carlos ’n Charlie’s won more than its fair share of accolades. In 1979, it was named one of the best singles bars in the United States by Playboy Clubs International, and in the early 1990s, Bernice was honored with the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce’s Woman of the Year award.
After the original Carlos ’n Charlie’s location closed in 1996, an Irish pub named Dublin’s took over the location for a few years. The building was then razed to create Sunset Beach, a restaurant in a modernistic building with white “sails” coming out of its roof, as if it were on the ocean. The location is now slated for redevelopment. 
The annual Halloween party at Carlos ’n Charlie’s, 1978.