#29 Yamashiro

#30 The Hollywood Walk of Fame

Yamashiro

Yamashiro is a high-end sushi place just above Franklin, just below the Hollywood Bowl. Full disclosure, I've only eaten there once, I didn’t have a full meal, and I could probably never afford to do so. So why will I be missing an out-of-my-league sushi place that I only ate at once? Because standing 200 feet above my neighborhood, it is an almost constant reminder that I live not just in "Hollywood" but in "the Hills." I live just below a grandiose and famous Japanese restaurant that people drive miles just to see.

Yamashiro is a beautiful old Japanese style building with a beautiful picturesque pagoda and high-end clintelle. The food is interesting, décor is lovely, and most of all the view is something from a postcard. Standing guard over Hollywood, Yamashiro looks down on everything from downtown to the ocean. On a clear day, Long Beach, LAX, and even Catalina are all visible, and while this is true up and down Mullholland, this is the only vista with four star sushi, and a full bar. It's not even that I love the place as much as I love it's existence: though I rarely if ever do, I could walk to one of the most beautiful restaurants on earth. Every morning as I drive down Franklin, I see that little sign "Yamashiro --→" pointing me up a series of switchback roads up a hill, past a hotel, and into the parking lot of Yamashiro.

It is no secret that I am a romantic, this place just means a lot to me. I'll miss the view, I'll miss seeing it from the road, I'll miss the sign, the only thing I won't really miss, is the sushi.