Frank Sinatra’s Favorite Hangout Is Back, but Only for Two Years

An iconic Los Angeles restaurant made famous as Frank Sinatra’s hangout is getting a dream revival. The catch? You have only two years to check it out.

Restaurateurs Hans Rockenwagner and Josiah Citrin are rebooting Culver City, Calif., eatery Dear John’s with updated American fare. But when their lease expires, the building will be razed to make way for new development.

“We saw the potential to have some fun,” says Rockenwagner, characterizing the space as a time capsule. “There’s such a nostalgia about the place.” The two are acting as the final caretakers of the spot, which served as Hollywood’s hottest watering hole in the ’60s. Actor Johnny Harlowe originally opened it in 1962, reportedly with money from Ol’ Blue Eyes. 

Rockenwagner and Citrin are staying true to the restaurant’s traditional chop house roots, with a menu featuring steaks, sand dabs (a type of fish), chicken parmesan, and iceberg wedge salads, along with old-school cocktails named for people and songs of the Rat Pack era. “There’s certain touches to it that you can certainly sense that it’s an updated version, but it doesn’t sway too far from the classic,” Rockenwagner says.