The Story of… Musso and Frank Grill in Hollywood

Exclusive Interview by Karen Beishuizen

It all began with a French man opening a restaurant in Hollywood in 1919. His name was Frank Toulet. He partnered with Joseph Mosso in 1922 and the name of the restaurant changed to Musso and Frank Grill. They sold the restaurant to two Italian immigrants Joseph Carissimi and John Mosso in 1927. With a location right across the street from the Screen Writer’s Guild, it was pure gold for writers like Faulkner, Chandler, Parker, Hemingway. The restaurant can be seen in many movies and series like Ed Wood, Ocean’s Eleven, La La Land, Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood, The Kominsky Method and Bosch. On 27 September 2019 was the 100th anniversary of the restaurant and to make it extra special, it received the only star ever given to a restaurant on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. If you are in the area, step inside and have a drink and a meal!

KB: How and when did Joseph Musso and Frank Toulet have the idea of starting a restaurant?

Frank Toulet, a native of France, opened a restaurant called Frank’s Francois Cafe at 6669 Hollywood Blvd on September 27, 1919. Among his first celebrity guests was Charlie Chaplin. In 1922, Toulet partnered with restaurateur Joseph Musso. As the owners of the new Musso & Frank’s Grill, they hired French chef Jean Rue, who created the menu — much of which remains unchanged even today. The pair sold the restaurant in 1927 to two Italian immigrants, Joseph Carissimi and John Mosso, who years later moved The Musso & Frank Grill next door to 6667 Hollywood Blvd., where it still stan

KB: Tell me how it became the state it is in now. Were there a lot of expansions?

From 1922-1935, the Musso & Frank Grill was located at the same, original site of Frank’s Cafe. In 1935, the new owners Joseph Carissimi and John Mosso moved the restaurant one building next door to 6667 Hollywood Blvd. Today that section of the restaurant is now called “The Old Room” and includes red leather booths both large and small, as well as a counter directly located in front of its renowned grill, which has cooked over one-million steaks, according to the owners. In 1955, the owners took over the building next door on the eastern side and built the large “New Room” which today accommodates more diners than the old room and includes the world-famous bar. In 2021, the owners expanded again to the east, and opened a new wing of Private Dining Rooms, as well as a private VIP Wine room.

KB: Who is running the restaurant now?

The family descendants of Joseph Carissimi and John Mosso ran the restaurant in tandem until 2011. That year, the descendants of the Mosso family took full control. Today, John Mosso’s three daughters and their husbands are the owners, while John Mosso’s grandson, Mark Echeverria, is today the COO, CFO and Proprietor.

KB: The Screen Writers Guild was located across the street. Raymond Chandler, Ernest Hemingway, Dorothy Parker and William Faulkner were regulars and they often drank in the separate backroom. Tell me the story.

The back room was also the writer’s room. The notion of the “Hollywood writer” came into its own in the 1930s when the movie studios realized that they needed more and better writers to churn out more and more scripts. With the writer’s guild building located across the street, virtually every known and emerging Hollywood writer ate and drank there. The list includes William Faulkner who mixed his own mint juleps, Charles Bukowski, misbehaving, spitting and yelling at people, Ernest Hemingway, Willilam Saroyan, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John O’Harar, Aldous Huxley, Joseph Heller, Lillian Hellman and Bertold Brecht all enjoyed brandy alexander and 130-proof whiskey. Raymond Chandler wrote The Big Sleep inside a Musso’s booth. Screenwriter C. Graham Baker introduced Hollywood to the card game gin rummy.

William Faulkner cherished his Saturday afternoon’s at Musso’s, smoking his pipe, laughing freely and happy to be among other “writing men.” In 1935, Stanley Rose opened a bookstore a few storefronts from Musso’s. The restaurant’s famous “back room” was made possible by someone at Musso’s punching a hole into the wall of the adjoining Vogue movie theatre – the back room provided plenty of liquor. Bookseller Stanley Rose covered the tabs of the famous writers during that era.

KB: Tell me the movies the restaurant appeared in.

Given its historic Hollywood appeal, Musso & Frank has – not surprisingly – become something of an on-screen celebrity itself since it opened on September 27, 1919, having its interior and/or exterior featured within dozens of entertainment productions. Says Mr. Echeverria, “We are quite proud of the role our restaurant has played as a notable location in numerous films and television shows – so numerous in fact that we’ve lost track of many of them. We’re in such demand that the list is forever growing, and for that we are very grateful.” Below is a Never-Previously Compiled Timeline of Musso & Frank’s most notable, “guest-starring appearances” on the silver screen:

Cops (Starring Buster Keaton) (1922)
The Day of the Locust (1975)
Ed Wood (1994)
Swingers (1996)
Sex and the City (2000)
Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
Hollywood Homicide (2003)
Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (2003)
Entourage (2004)
Mad Men (2007-2010)
NCIS: Los Angeles (2009 – 2019)
Greenberg (2010)
90210 (2011)
Hitchcock (2012)
Ray Donovan (2013)
Bosch (2014 – 2017)
Scandal (2014 – 2016)
Grace and Frankie (2015)
La La Land (2016)
Rules Don’t Apply (2016)
The Kominsky Method (2018)
The Dirt (2019)
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019)
…to name a few…

KB: Tell me about the film scenes shot there for Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

The opening scene from this film presents Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt as they arrive at Musso & Frank outside in their car at the Musso’s parking lot, then enter the old room, then walk into the new room, where they meet Al Pacino at the bar. “I feel so lucky that there’s a place like the Musso & Frank Grill – one that exists now exactly how it has always been,” said Tarantino. “It was fantastic being able to shoot at an iconic landmark that is so authentic and connected to Hollywood.”

Adds Rick Schuler, Supervising Location Manager for Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood: “Musso & Frank Grill is featured in a big way in the movie. This establishment encapsulates the history of Hollywood. It was a must-have location for Quentin who sought to take us back to 1969 Hollywood – the Hollywood he grew up in and loved. While other establishments have come and gone, it was not so with Musso and Frank Grill. It has stood the test of time. The family who owns it has preserved every detail, so it was a fitting location for a major scene between Brad Pitt, Leo DiCaprio, and Al Pacino’s characters. If you truly want to see Hollywood, you’ve got to visit Musso and Frank Grill – and who knows who you just might see there.”

Commented Mark Echeverria, CFO/COO/Proprietor of Musso & Frank, as well as a fourth-generation member of the family of owners: “Quentin Tarantino is a truly visionary artist – not to mention just a great guy and a long-time fan of ours – who wanted Musso’s to not merely be a backdrop for his film, but a character in its own right – one that would perfectly embody the essence of Hollywood back in 1969. We have never closed for five straight days in our 100-year history, but we did that last summer so he could shoot inside our restaurant. We made that exception because we love him and because we felt comfortable allowing him to do so – it was a pleasure working with him. We’re grateful to Quentin and his cast and his crew, along with Sony Pictures, for showing such a genuine passion and respect for our restaurant and its 100-year history. We’re deeply proud to be associated with Quentin’s film, one surely destined to become as timeless as Musso & Frank itself.”

KB: The restaurant received a star on the walk of fame. Tell me the story.

Mark Echeverria is a Member of the Board of Directors for the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Given the cultural and historic significance of the 100-year legend of Musso and Frank, the Hollywood Chamber voted to present Musso’s with the Only Hollywood Star Ever Given to a Restaurant! The star was unveiled on the exact 100th anniversary of the restaurant’s founding – September 27, 2019.

KB: How did the restaurant survive the Covid pandemic because a lot of places went out of business?

Like all other food venues in Los Angeles, Musso & Frank was closed for virtually all of the first full year of the Covid Pandemic, then reopened during 2021 under the strictest health and safety protocols available to them from the City of Los Angeles and the State of California. During much of 2021, patrons and waiters wore masks; but during late 2021 and onward, the mask rules were eased.

KB: Why should people visit Musso and Frank Grill?

Musso & Frank Grill has earned an international reputation as one of the world’s leading restaurants, and one offering the world’s most famous martini. Customers can settle into one of the restaurant’s classic red leather booths, amble over to its famed mahogany bar, gaze around in awe at the classic architecture or peer into what was the city’s very first public phone booth, and you will find yourself transported to another time and place where every meal is a work of art, every patron is a cherished guest, and every moment is an instantly priceless memory. Offering a combination of old world sophistication and contemporary warmth unavailable anywhere else under one roof, Musso & Frank (and its renowned, even mysterious, Back Room), has been a home away from home over the years for such artistic luminaries as Charlie Chaplin, Frank Sinatra, Clark Gable, Charlton Heston, Marilyn Monroe, Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Jimmy Stewart, Lauren Bacall, Elizabeth Taylor, Steve McQueen, Jack Nicholson, Johnny Depp, and even The Rolling Stones. The restaurant has also been a source of inspiration for such literary giants as Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Raymond Chandler, T.S. Elliot, John Steinbeck, Dorothy Parker and William Faulkner.

Over the years, Musso & Frank has also become synonymous with entertainment industry power lunches. Indeed, it’s safe to say that the deals made here over the years have mirrored the history of Hollywood itself – all the way from silent films to talkies, from Technicolor to television, from VHS tapes to DVDs, and from cable TV networks to streaming media platforms. Best of all, while Musso & Frank is obviously steeped in living history, it’s actually more vibrant and retro-hip today than ever, attracting multiple generations of Hollywood denizens who prefer elegance over garishness, career servers over indifferent order-takers, and classic cuisine over passing food fads.

Today, Mr. Echeverria, his family, and his team remain laser focused on the present and future – a key reason why this year is the most successful in the restaurant’s storied history. As he sums it up: “For all of us fortunate enough to be associated with Musso & Frank, 2019 wasn’t solely the culmination of our first hundred years – it’s the beginning of our second hundred years!”

Check out Musso and Frank Grill’s website: HERE
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