It is, truly, the end of an era: The Arby’s on Sunset Boulevard, the fast food chain’s Hollywood location with its instantly-recognizable giant neon cowboy hat sign, has officially closed for good.
Eater reports that “the company removed the location from its website” right around the time that a Reddit user posted the picture of an on-site marquee sign that reads “Farewell Hollywood TY for 55 great years.”
Although certainly not one of the best restaurants in Hollywood, Arby’s has been part and parcel of the area’s streetscape—and its kind-of-sloppy nightlife—since first opening back in 1969. As one Reddit user wrote in pretty much perfect epitaph, “I didn’t like going, but I liked knowing I could.”
Arby’s, of course, operates a few thousand restaurants around the world, but this location was always a little unique: It was one of the only remaining locations to bear this specific, old-school version of the chain’s cap logo. And moreover, it fit right in with the olden days of Hollywood, when the area just east of where the eatery stood was nicknamed Gower Gulch because of its popularity as a hangout among actors and extras on Western films. (You can find a Western-themed strip mall a few blocks away by the Denny’s.)
Marilyn Leviton, who is now 91 years old, has actually been the Hollywood Arby’s sole owner since its inception. “Honestly, I think the pandemic was the final blow,” Leviton said to KTLA about the closing. “We probably would have closed during the pandemic if it weren’t for the federal loans.”
Sadly enough, Arby’s is not the only area chain that’s been forced to shutter in recent months, citing financial issues. Rubio’s, for example, closed down nearly 50 shops earlier this year, not to mention the other notable destinations that permanently shut down during and after the pandemic.