DECEMBER 15th will mark the end of an era for the local British community as the venerable Cat & Fiddle in Hollywood finally its shuts its doors.
The much-loved pub, which was founded in 1982 in Laurel Canyon by the late rock musician Kim Gardner and his wife Paula, has been an integral part of the local British scene for just about as long as anyone can remember, but has fallen victim to the gentrification of Hollywood – a process the Cat & Fiddle itself helped make possible.
The pub quickly outgrew its first location and in 1985 moved to Sunset Boulevard, just west of Wilcox Avenue, where it has been ever since. The pub’s combination of a warm welcome and good beer and great food made it a hit not just with the locals but with anyone coming to Hollywood for a night out. The sprawling, tree-lined patio in particular has long made it almost unique among watering holes in the area.
Amid reports that a large restaurant chain had offered the pub’s landlord twice the current rent to take over the tenancy of the space, the British Weekly contacted owner Paula Gardner, who told us: “Yes, it’s true I’m sorry to say. Because we don’t own the lease we are at the mercy of the landlord. If he finds a new tenant who can offer him ten times what we’re paying, we have to leave, it’s a simple as that.
“I told the staff on Friday and by Saturday the news had leaked out. We’ve had hundreds of regulars coming to the pub telling us how sorry they are. Hard as it is, we have to move on and so we’re currently looking for another location in Los Feliz. That’s all I can tell you right now.
“Our last big night here looks like being our Halloween Party. We’d love to see all our friends, old and new, to help us go out with a bang.“
The mood at the pub on Monday alternated between outrage and resignation. One regular, a transplanted Dubliner named Martin, who told us he’d been drinking at the Cat since 1985, summed up the mood.
“Oh man it’s terrible news. The Cat has been part of my life here. It was the only place you could go for a decent pint and a good chat back in the dark old days, when Hollywood was full of crime and grime, long before it became the hipster destination it is now.
“The idea of being turfed out not because you can’t pay your rent, but because someone else can pay twice as much seems so cold and Darwinian, but that’s the society we live in. When you can pay top dollar and keep an area going, like the Cat did with Hollywood for years, everyone loves you. But when that same area booms and everyone wants the space you’re in, there’s no sentiment. Loyalty counts for nothing. It’s match the asking price or leave. I don’t care what they put in this space or how much money they spend to upgrade it, it’ll never be as good as the Cat.”
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