After 14 years of service, Rock & Reilly’s Irish Pub, a well-known establishment on West Hollywood’s Sunset Strip, shuttered abruptly just before St. Patrick’s Day.
The pub, located at 8911 W. Sunset Blvd., just two doors down from The Whisky a Go Go, has yet to make an official announcement on its social media accounts and website. Still, the business is already listed as permanently closed on Yelp and Google. This isn’t the first time it has closed without warning. Several years back, it also shuttered unceremoniously and reopened in Sept. 2019 under a new ownership group led by Justin Levine and Robbie Earl.
According to Yelp, Rock & Reilly’s continues to operate its other locations, including Topanga Social in Canoga Park and its USC location. There is also a new LAX location listed as coming soon to the airport, according to Rock & Reilly’s website.
The Sunset Strip location first opened in 2011, taking over what was once the London Fog, a popular ’60s venue where Jim Morrison and The Doors were the first act to perform.
Rock & Reilly’s made a name for itself, boasting several celebrity A-listers visiting the bar on its homepage. Its dining menu offered a selection of authentic Irish dishes, such as its corned beef and hash sandwich made with stone-ground mustard, Dubliner cheddar mix, and Guinness-glazed onions on rye bread. Other menu items included common bar foods, such as burgers, salads, nachos, chili, and mac and cheese.
SEE ALSO: St. Patrick’s Day: How to party like an Irish punk at home
The restaurant’s alcohol offerings once featured 45 whiskeys, a rare Magners Irish Cider on tap and served beer flights in mini-Mason jars that were a callback to the folklore inspiration behind the Irish pub.
On Rock & Reilly’s website, the company describes Reilly’s mythic origin story, “Born during a bar fight in Devlin, Ireland, Reilly came into the world swinging. On the first day of his life, he lost an eye, took a man’s life and developed an insatiable taste for whiskey. At the age of two, Reilly’s father lost him in a poker game. Six months later, Reilly won himself back. And when he was three years old, prohibition hit the United States, and Reilly ultimately decided he couldn’t bear the thought of Americans going thirsty.”
“Hell-bent and ready to rumble, Reilly hitched a ride on a whiskey boat bound for the dry nation to supply illegal spirits to the American people. Docked in a strange land and armed with nothing but a family recipe for Irish whiskey and a smuggler’s wit, Reilly quickly organized a gang of misfits known as the ‘Black Eye Society’ and took over the routes of the nation’s milkmen.”
The two-story, 2,500-square-foot restaurant was equipped with 17 LED TVs, a 120-inch projection screen, and an outdoor patio that often showed sporting events. It was also a popular spot for late-night crowds, sometimes hosting karaoke and stand-up comedy shows.
