Beloved Halloween-Themed Restaurant Closing on July 1 After Nearly a Decade
Beetle House, a Los Angeles staple on iconic Hollywood Boulevard where "Everyday is Halloween," has been part of the Los Angeles restaurant, bar, and club community for 8 1/2 years, but the joint has "simply run out of money to operate at the level" they need despite surviving a global pandemic and apocalyptic-like fires that recently ravaged Southern California.
The restaurant shared on its GoFundMe that its imminent closure "wasn't due to poor planning, and it wasn't due to just the economic downturn of the city; it was due to third-party theft and broken agreements."
The fundraiser continued, "We had an investor that did not put in the money they agreed to, which left us with a large hole in our finances. In addition, we had a manager steal over $60,000 from us. These two things happened in a short timeframe, immediately followed by the LA fires and the current chaos going on in Los Angeles that has affected our business greatly."On Instagram, Beetle House says being shut down for over a year during the pandemic put them in the hole, as well as an investor pulling out and leaving them with a $500,000 hole, among other unfortunate events.
"We're not posting this for sympathy. We've never asked for help before—not even during COVID. We're just tired. As it stands today… Beetle House LA, in its current form, will cease to exist after July," the post read. "Could that change? Possibly. Could we get the miracle we need? Possibly. Could this be the end? Also possible. We're exploring everything: fundraising, private investors, relocating… but right now, we need people in the building spending money if we're going to survive."
Beetle House says its New York location is stable but the Hollywood location just can't manage to survive right now without a miracle.
"We need to raise a significant amount of money to pay our bills and our rent, etc. We still think we have a lot more to offer, and we want to stay alive, but we just don't have the options right now," the GoFundMe page reads. "We have over 150,000 followers on our social platforms. If 10,000 people gave $100, all of our troubles would be over. So here we are, putting it out there: if you want this haunted hayride to continue, we will need your help. Otherwise, we will have to close our doors and sail off to the afterlife."
Beetle House's "thematic atmosphere is inspired by horror culture, magic, and the artistic, literary, and cinematic works of many revered legends such as Washington Irving, Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, Wes Craven, Tim Burton and many others."
According to the restaurant, Zach Neil launched Beetle House as a pop-up restaurant in New York City in 2016. He opened the Los Angeles location the following year.
Beloved Halloween-Themed Restaurant Closing on July 1 After Nearly a Decade first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 29, 2025
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