Hop Louie from “I Love You, Man”

Los Angeles suffered numerous iconic restaurant closures in 2017 – Auntie Em’s Kitchen in Eagle Rock, Happy Trails Catering in Pasadena (I was particularly heartbroken over that one), and the Formosa Cafe in West Hollywood (though it is set to re-open this summer), just to name a few.  2017 also saw the final shuttering of historic Chinatown eatery Hop Louie.  Though the kitchen and main dining room of the area landmark and onscreen stalwart shut down in August 2016, the lower level bar had remained in operation – and left Angelinos hopeful over the restaurant’s future.  That all changed when the locale closed its doors for good last July.  What is to become of the legendary site is anyone’s guess.  I stalked Hop Louie way back in 2012 after becoming obsessed with it thanks to its appearance in I Love You, Man, but, sadly, never got to actually dine on the premises (more on that in a bit) and somehow failed to dedicate a blog post to the place.  Then, last week, while doing some downtown L.A. stalking, the Grim Cheaper and I happened to drive through Chinatown and when my gaze caught sight of Hop Louie’s unique pagoda-shaped exterior, I decided it was high time I rectify that.

Hop Louie’s eye-catching edifice, which towers over Chinatown, was originally constructed in 1941 to house a Cantonese eatery named Golden Pagoda Restaurant.

How it became Hop Louie is not really well-documented online, but from what I can gather the site was taken over in 1985 by restauranteurs Hop Louie Woo and Bill Ng, who met while working together at Latitude 20 in Torrance.  The duo transformed the locale into a Cantonese/Mandarin eatery named after Woo.  Though the fare was never especially noteworthy, the place quickly became a neighborhood staple due largely to its kitschy décor, generous servings, and reasonable prices.  The cocktail lounge, situated on the lower level and known for serving stiff, inexpensive libations, was also a big part of Hop Louie’s draw.

Very little of the restaurant was changed throughout its thirty-year history, leaving patrons and online commenters to commonly refer to it as being “frozen in time.”  The assessment was not at all far off – the place was a relic!  A cigarette vending machine could even still be found on the premises as late as 2007.

Sadly, Hop Louie suffered from lingering profits in recent years, leading the owners to shut down the kitchen in August 2016.  Though the bar was left open, everyone in the city, it seemed, mourned the restaurant’s demise, with Eater LA, LA Weekly, LAist, NBC Los Angeles, and TimeOut all lamenting the news.

Oddly, when the cocktail lounge shuttered a little less than a year later and the final nail was essentially put in Hop Louie’s coffin, the lights seemed to go out with no fanfare whatsoever.  In fact, had it not been for a couple of mentions on Yelp and Instagram, I would not have even realized that the bar had closed and the historic restaurant was no longer.

When the GC and I visited Hop Louie in 2012, our experience left a bit to be desired.  Upon entering, we headed upstairs to the dining area and I snapped the photos below along the way.

As we reached the second level and stood waiting to be seated, I took a picture of the dining room which apparently was a huge no-no because a man immediately ran over to us screaming and yelling that photos were not allowed.  It was not the best way to be greeted, so, needless to say, we did not stay for a meal and the images above and below are the only ones I got of Hop Louie’s interior.  You can check out some great shots of the inside of the place here, though.

You can also catch a glimpse of the restaurant via its myriad onscreen roles.  In the 2009 comedy I Love You, Man, Zooey Rice (Rashida Jones) and Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) host their engagement party at Hop Louie.

In an interesting twist, though, one that I did not realize up until writing this post, only the exterior of Hop Louie was utilized in the engagement party scene.  Though the eatery is referred to by name in the movie and said to be Peter’s favorite spot to bring dates, it solely appeared in a brief establishing shot.  All interior filming took place at the Great Wall Chinese Restaurant located at 18331 Sherman Way in Reseda.  You can see some photographs of that site here.

Back in 1978, when the locale still housed the Golden Pagoda, it portrayed the restaurant owned by Miss Choy (France Nuyen) in the Season 7 episode of Columbo titled “Murder Under Glass.”

Once again, only the exterior was utilized in the shoot.  Interiors were shot elsewhere.

In 1984, the Golden Pagoda popped up in the Season 2 episode of The A-Team titled “The Maltese Cow.”

As was the case with the previous two productions mentioned, only the exterior of the building appeared onscreen.  Interiors were shot, I believe, on a set.

We finally catch a glimpse of Hop Louie’s interior in the 1990 comedy Sibling Rivalry, in the scene in which Marjorie Turner (Kirstie Alley) and her sister Jeanine (Jami Gertz) discuss Jeanine’s new love interest over lunch.

A fight between two rival kick-boxing gangs breaks out near Hop Louie’s entrance in the 1991 action flick Ring of Fire.

Haru (Chris Farley) goes undercover as a teppan chef at Hop Louie in order to spy on Martin Tanley (Nathaniel Parker) in the 1997 comedy Beverly Hills Ninja.

Once again, though, only the exterior of the site was utilized.  Interiors were shot on what I believe was a set.

In 1998’s Lethal Weapon 4, Detective Lee Butters (Chris Rock) chases a waiter (Philip Tan) whom he mistakenly thinks is a bad guy through Hop Louie’s dining room.

The waiter winds up jumping out of Hop Louie’s second-story window onto the street below, where he is promptly arrested.

Furious (Ben Stiller) and his team head to Hop Louie to celebrate their first victory in 1999’s Mystery Men.  Only the exterior of the site appeared in the movie.  (Are you sensing a pattern here?)

Interior filming took place at The Prince, one of my favorite L.A. restaurants.

Hop Louie portrays three different spots in the 2007 comedy Big Stan.  The exterior of the restaurant pops up in a couple of scenes as the outside of Master Cho’s Karate studio.

The main dining room is the spot where Big Stan (Rob Schneider) has dinner with The Master (David Carradine) and Lew Popper (M. Emmet Walsh).

And the lower level bar is where Lew meets Madame Foreman (Sally Kirkland).

In the Season 1 episode of Chuck titled “Chuck Versus the Sizzling Shrimp,” which aired in 2007, Hop Louie masks as Bamboo Dragon restaurant where Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi) encounters international spy Mei-Ling Cho (Gwendoline Yeo).

G. Callen (Chris O’Donnell) parks on the side of Hop Louie while chasing a criminal in the Season 1 episode of NCIS: Los Angeles titled “Chinatown,” which aired in 2010.

In the pilot episode of Stitchers titled “A Stitch in Time,” which aired in 2015, Hop Louie masks as the Chinese restaurant that stands as a cover for the secret headquarters of the Stitchers agency.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Hop Louie, from I Love You, Man, is located at 950 Mei Ling Way in downtown L.A.’s Chinatown.  The restaurant and bar are both currently closed.

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