LGBTQ Bar Owner to Open Restaurant at Lisa Vanderpump’s Closed Pump LA

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Pump closed in West Hollywood on July 5, and now a longtime player in the LGBTQ space is stepping in

A new tenant has been announced for Lisa Vanderpump’s closed Pump restaurant in West Hollywood — and it’s a Westside local legend. Pump, once seen as a high-performing hangout for the celebrity restaurateur and her legions of reality television fans, closed for good in early July after 10 years and will be replaced by an iconic Venice gay bar with its own storied background.

Roosterfish on Abbot Kinney will take over the closed Pump space at 8948 Santa Monica Boulevard as soon as September, reports entertainment publication ET. The historic queer bar has been a staple of the early LGBTQ scene in Venice for more than 40 years, though it has seen its share of ups and downs in that time. The bar actually closed in 2016 but was resurrected two years later by new owners Mario Vollera and Patrick Brunet, and now the place is doing so well it has the momentum to expand. Longtime West Hollywood real estate broker Leslie Haro was behind the transaction, completed less than a month after Vanderpump’s team vacated the space.

If all goes well, the new Roosterfish West Hollywood could be up and running by September, meaning any changes to the space itself would be almost entirely cosmetic. Still, there are plans to expand the Roosterfish brand beyond just cocktails — the Venice location does not serve food — by introducing a light menu of Italian bites, sources say.

As for Vanderpump, the Bravo star’s overall empire is still doing well in Los Angeles, even as Vanderpump herself has begun to open restaurants in Las Vegas and even Lake Tahoe as of late. Sur and Tom Tom remain must-visit destinations for fans of Vanderpump Rules, while other related properties like Schwartz & Sandy’s in Franklin Village have built their own curious following on the heels of the #Scandoval shakeup that rocked the reality series earlier this year.

Further west, Roosterfish in Venice remains a popular destination for LGBTQ patrons and the entire Abbot Kinney community, and this expansion should help to further anchor the ever-changing gay nightlife scene in West Hollywood. While the Boys Town stretch’s famous Pride festival is no longer happening, Los Angeles as a whole has seen an influx of new (and specifically lesbian) spaces in recent years. Meanwhile, the famed Abbey restaurant and bar has been put up for sale by longtime owner David Cooley, just down the street from where Roosterfish will take over later this year.

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