Planet Hollywood leather Jackets
Seeing Stars: Restaurants Owned by the Stars..
at Beverly Hills
9560 Wilshire Blvd.,
Beverly Hills. CA. / (310) 275-7828
On New Years Day 2000, Planet Hollywood announced that they were closing this Beverly Hills branch of their famous restaurant chain, leaving them without a restaurant in the Hollywood / Los Angeles area (although they still operate Planet Hollywoods in San Diego, San Francisco and other locations).
They blamed the closure on Beverly Hills' city restrictions, which limited sales of alcohol at night, banned tour buses and live music, and prohibited the chain's usually colorful exterior & logo.
At the time, Planet Hollywood said that it "has a commitment to having a restaurant in the Los Angeles area, '' and that they will be "announcing a new site within the coming months."
Personally, I was rooting for them to relocate to Hollywood Boulevard. That stretch of real estate is just catching fire now, and could use the additional shot-in-the-arm. And what location could be more appropriate for a Planet Hollywood than the actual Hollywood Boulevard?
And in early 2000, Army Archerd reported in Variety: "Robert Earl, whose Planet Hollywood came out of bankruptcy in record time last Friday, winged to Hollywood this week for a fast round of confabs as he starts to renew the Planets with the same enthusiasm as he did at their start. Among his plans are: the opening of a Planet on Hollywood Boulevard near the new Academy theater. It will replace the recently-shuttered, staid site on Wilshire Boulevard in BevHills."
However, almost a year later, and continued financial problems for the company, there seems to have been no progress towards opening a new restaurant in L.A.
Also, Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that he was severing his ties with Planet Hollywood now that his five-year contract has expired. Bruce Willis and Sly Stallone stay on board, and 'N Sync has recently become involved, now that PL has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization and seems intent on signing up a new host of younger stars to reinvigorate the chain.
I will leave this current page up for now, so you can read about the exhibits that were available at the Beverly Hills branch, and which might wind up at any new L.A. locale. I'll also post any news here that might be announced about the choice of a new location.
But remember that the article below was written before the restaurant closed.
Three years after the opening of the first local Planet Hollywood in 1991 (in Orange County), and following the opening of dozens of new Planet Hollywoods around the globe, Sly Stallone, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore and Arnold Schwarzenegger finally got around to coming home to Hollywood. But when they did it, they did it right.
Planet Hollywood opened in Beverly Hills on Sunday, Sept. 17, 1995, with the most spectacular grand opening gala in the history of restaurants. They roped off nearby Rodeo Drive for a giant celebrity block party, and rolled out the red carpet for a dazzling parade of stars.
Danny DeVito and Chuck Berry performed live in concert - as did Bruce. And Sly was only slightly exaggerating when he told reporters 'there are more stars here than at the Oscars." Guests included Bruce, Demi, and Arnold (of course), plusPatrick Swayze, Whoopi Goldberg, Tim Allen, Brooke ShieldsDanny Glover, Cindy Crawford, Rod Stewart, Steven Seagal, Dean Cain, Oprah Winfrey, Kelsey Grammer, Paul Reiser, George Clooney, Claude Van Damme, Pierce Brosnan, Wesley Snipes, Roseanne, Chris O'Donnell, Danny DeVito, Tony Danza, Paula Abdul, Charlie Sheen, Geena Davis, Warren Beatty, John Laroquette, Faye Dunaway, David Hasselhoff, Jennifer Aniston, Luke Perry, Penny Marshall, Pauly Shore, Robert Downey Jr., Alice Cooper, Little Richard, Aaron Spelling, Tori Spelling, John Stamos, Jim Belushi, and many more.
