Tail o’ the Cock

For 40 years, Tail o’ the Cock, which is featured prominently in the new movie Licorice Pizza, reigned supreme on Ventura Boulevard. During its heyday, the Studio City restaurant, just one block west of Coldwater Canyon, was the place where stars ate lunch while working at nearby Warner Bros. Studios and CBS Studio Center. The eatery was a place to see and be seen. Celebrities like Ronald Reagan, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Gene Autry and John Wayne were regulars. The Americana fare (heavy on the meats) was considered upscale and tasty at the time. A 1955 menu lists one of the most popular entrees, the Cock Pepper Steak, for $4.50; soup of the day went for 55 cents. But the Tail, as it was known, was above all a place to meet for cocktails. No matter the day, the martinis started flowing at 5 p.m.

When developer Herbert M. Piken bought the property in the late ’80s and announced plans to build a shopping center, longtime employees were shattered. “I feel like there’s been a death in my family,” Justine Visone, a cocktail waitress at the restaurant for more than 10 years, told the Los Angeles Times.