Yamashiro Restaurant

For 88 years Yamashiro has watched over the history of Hollywood. It has witnessed the birth of the film industry, the glamour of Hollywood’s “Golden Age”, the difficult times of war with Japan, and the current period of intense interest in Eastern cultures. Yamashiro started as a fabulous private estate and is now open to the public as a unique restaurant and public gardens.Yamashiro means “Mountain Palace” in Japanese. It was the dream of the Bernheimer brothers in 1911 to build a hilltop mansion 250 feet above Hollywood Boulevard to house their priceless collection of Asian treasures. Hundreds of skilled craftsmen were brought from the Orient to recreate an exact replica of a palace located in the “Yamashiro” mountains near Kyoto, Japan. This dream became a reality in 1914.

When they finished Yamashiro in Hollywood, 300 steps led up the hillside through superbly landscaped Japanese gardens to the 10-room teak and cedar mansion, where carved rafters were lacquered in gold and tipped with bronze dragons. A Sacred Inner Court formed a lovely garden in the center of the building and was filled with sculptured plants, stone hewn pools and rare fish. This Inner Court provided light and air to the surrounding rooms where the walls were covered with lustrous silks and hung with antique tapestries.Landscaping at Yamashiro was a $2 million effort and resulted in California’s foremost Japanese gardens. Hillside terraces were filled with 30,000 varieties of trees and shrubs, waterfalls, hundreds of goldfish, and even a private zoo of exotic birds and monkeys. Miniature bronze houseboats floated alonga maze of tiny canals through a miniature Japanese village.

Today, guests have enjoyed Yamashiro’s gracious Japanese ambiance  with its award-winning Japanese menu. Two years ago, a complete management change instituted renovations inside the building and an elegant yet contemporary new direction in service and food, resulting in the creation of the restaurant’s highly praised CalAsian cuisine, complementing classic Japanese favorites. Now the complete dining experience is unmatched in Los Angeles, enhanced by the spectacular view that originally drew the Bernheimer brothers, and later the Glover family, to this Hollywood hilltop to build Yamashiro, Hollywood’s own “Mountain Palace”.