Hollywood’s Iconic Yamashiro Restaurant Saved By Chinese Hotel Group

Good news for Hollywood today, as it appears that the longstanding Yamashiro restaurant and seven acre property is safe from demolition and re-development. As Curbed LA reports, the unassumingly-named JE Group from China has bid their way into a purchase of the entire property — that includes the restaurant, some small apartments and a hotel, as well as a few other freestanding buildings — for around $40 million.

The sealed deal brings to an end a saga that’s been ongoing for nearly a decade, mostly stemming from a few disparate joint owners seeking to force a sale over the years. The most recent sales push came back in 2014, and it seemed at the time that the more than 100 year old restaurant would be in some serious trouble. So much so, a short documentary was created that chronicled what at the time seemed to be the end of times for the impossibly iconic restaurant.

Now that JE has stepped up to the plate, there are no further plans to destroy the history of Yamashiro. Per Curbed, new ownership says that significant new construction would not be appropriate for the land, and instead they’ll focus their efforts on rehabilitating what’s already there. Apparently the JE team is known for doing such things in China, acting as a sort of for-profit conservatory of all things old and great.

Of course there still could be some changes at the restaurant site, with the new operators saying that they haven’t ruled out a changing of the management guard at least. What that could mean for the restaurant’s menu and concept is hard to say at this time, though it’s all but certain that the space itself will remain intact.