Pig 'n Whistle


The Pig 'n Whistle is an American restaurant and bar located in Hollywood on Hollywood Boulevard.

History

The Pig 'n Whistle was originally a chain of restaurants and candy shops, founded by John Gage in 1908. He opened his first location in Downtown Los Angeles, next to the now-demolished third city hall in the 200 block of South Broadway.
The Hollywood location of the Pig 'n Whistle was first opened in 1927 next to The Egyptian Theatre. The building housing the new restaurant cost $225,000 and featured "arved oak rafters, imported tiles, artistically wrought grilles and balcony and great panelled fresco paintings from Don Quixote." It was frequented by such celebrities as Spencer Tracy, Shirley Temple and Howard Hughes. The original Hollywood location closed down after World War II and its distinctive wooden furniture, decorated with hand-carved whistle-playing pigs, was sold to Miceli's Italian Restaurant, located around the corner at 1646 Las Palmas Avenue, where it remains to the present day.
By the late 1990s the location housed a fast-food pizza restaurant, and all that remained of the original tenant was a bas-relief pig on the front of the building. In 1999, British restaurant operator Chris Breed remodeled the building, recovering the spectacular original ceiling ornamentation, and re-opened the restaurant.
The restaurant name originates from two Old English words, piggin, a lead mug, and wassail, a wine drunk during yuletide.

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