Closings

Dar Maghreb Ends 39-Year Reign in Hollywood

The last dance?
The last dance? Photo: Ollie the Bastard/Flickr

Sunset Boulevard’s transporting, enchanting Moroccan tableau, Dar Maghreb, sadly won’t live to see its 40th birthday, as the restaurant appears to have shimmied its very last belly dance. Perhaps better regarded for its atmospheric charm—pillows and carpets for lounging over dinner, Spanish tile mosaics, a piddling fountain, private rooms—than its lamb m’ rouzia, Dar Maghreb first opened in 1974 on The Sunset Strip to show Hollywood how to eat with its hands. Currently, the restaurant’s website is down and its phone disconnected, with Chowhound chatter pointing to an ownership change on the lease. A new concept is rumored to be heading to the space under the names Andrew Gruver, an executive once associated with Saddle Ranch’s empire, and Roland Emmerich, the German director of films like 10,000 B.C. and The Patriot.

Dar Maghreb Ends 39-Year Reign in Hollywood