In a gesture last Thursday from the city of Los Angeles, Councilman Tom LaBonge, 4th District, unveiled a commemorative sign honoring the historic Yamashiro Hollywood restaurant.

Councilman Tom LaBonge was joined by cultural leaders and the owners of Yamashiro Hollywood for an unveiling of a sign designating the property as Mt. Yamashiro. (photo by Jonathan Van Dyke)

The property, located at 1999 N. Sycamore Ave., sits high above Hollywood, offering views of the Hollywood Sign, downtown and the Griffith Observatory. The sign read “Mt. Yamashiro” and cited the restaurant’s elevation at 605 feet above sea level.

“It’s always a beautiful day when you are at Yamashiro here in Hollywood,” LaBonge said. “What an historic restaurant and location. There are certain places that should be recognized. When you read signs you get in touch with community. There is so much history here at Yamashiro.”

Last year, Yamashiro representatives celebrated the property’s 100-year anniversary. Owner/manager Tom Glover said it has been an honor to oversee the historic property, but the recent celebrations have been bittersweet — Yamashiro is up for sale.

Glover’s father, Thomas O. Glover, who is now deceased, bought the property in 1948. The property is currently under control of the extended Glover family through an LLC. Tom Glover owns the largest share of the LLC but not a majority, he said, and other family members, many who live outside of the area, have decided it is time to sell.

“As it stands now, there has been a buyer decided on, but it has not been finalized,” Glover said, noting he expects the process to conclude in the next couple of months. “My main concern is the restaurant, the primary work of my life. It is very successful and it has been experienced by hundreds of thousands of people.”

Glover leases the property from the LLC, and he said he is not optimistic a new owner will extend the lease and allow Glover and his family to operate the same restaurant business on the property.

The conflict over selling the property ended up in the courtroom, Glover said, but his family was not able to buy the property from the LLC.

Yamashiro translates into “Mountain Palace” in Japanese. The property was developed in 1911 by the Bernheimer brothers. The main building was constructed to house their priceless collection of Asian art and antiques. The property is 250 feet above Hollywood Boulevard and it was completed in 1914.

“It is such an historic location and it has been through many, many incarnations,” Glover said.

The iconic Yamashiro Hollywood restaurant was completed in 1914 and was originally constructed to house a private collection of Asian art and antiques. (photo by Jonathan Van Dyke)

After one of the brothers died, most of their collection was auctioned off between 1922 and 1925. Then, in the late 1920s, the property served as a headquarters for the exclusive 400 Club. An insurance company operated the property as public gardens in the 1930s.

When World War II began, and specifically after the attack on Pearl Harbor, vandals attacked Yamashiro, and the owners ended up disguising the building by masking its Japanese heritage.

“A lot of people felt [during the war] that it was a Los Angeles lookout tower for submarines and so forth,” Glover said.

At the end of the war, a builder converted the run down property into 15 apartments. Then, in 1948, Thomas O. Glover bought the property hoping to convert it into a hotel and apartments.

“It was pretty much in ruins,” Glover said. “The trees had grown up so you couldn’t see the buildings and the main building was disguised and hidden as much as it could be. “[My father] began to tear off all the coverings and discovered this beautiful woodwork and silk coverings.”

Thomas O. Glover changed his mind about demolishing the property. Then, he won a city liquor license lottery. Facing the prospect of losing the license four years later, Thomas O. Glover started serving liquor in a back apartment — the building handyman acted as a makeshift bartender.

Early on, Thomas O. Glover called it the Hollywood Hills Club and charged $1 for memberships. Slowly, the cocktail lounge took over all of the apartments. Helping his father one New Year’s Eve, Glover said he began to serve food at the location.

“I saw that you really needed that to bring people up,” Glover said. “And it’s just gradually grown from there and taken over the whole building.”

The last apartment was occupied until the mid-1980s. Since then, the entire main building has housed a restaurant that can serve 500 customers.

“To be right in the middle of the city, but be like a vacation, an oasis — you come up there at night and the view explodes before you,” Glover said.

“There’s nothing like a great restaurant with a great view,” LaBonge said.

Los Angeles Japanese Consul General Hidehisa Horinouchi said the property is a great tribute to Japanese culture.

“The incredible thing about this Yamashiro site is that it wasn’t done by the Japanese government, or a Japanese company or even Japanese people,” he said. “It was created by Angelenos and loved by the Hollywood people.”

Glover said he doesn’t know what will happen to his restaurant and his family’s work restoring the property. Many parts of Yamashiro, including the main building and the gardens, are protected through city historic-cultural monument status.

“We appreciate the acknowledgement that the city has given to the business and restaurant,” Glover said. “It’s been in my family for 66 years. And that’s a long time, but now we’ll see what the future brings.”