by Veronica Gelakoska (Author)
The Pig 'N Whistle restaurants operated from 1908 to 1968 at more than 40 locations on the West Coast, from Los Angeles to Seattle. These elegant lunch rooms in San Francisco, Oakland, Beverly Hills, Pasadena, and elsewhere were born out of the great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake when hotelier John H. Gage left Hotel America and the rubble on Market Street to make a fresh start. He opened a soda fountain next door to Los Angeles City Hall in 1908 and soon returned to San Francisco to open a second in the newly rebuilt White House Department Store. Dutch immigrant Sidney Hoedemaker became the chain's president, and under his direction, Pig 'N Whistle added Melody Lane, one of the first L.A. restaurants to open a cocktail bar, a development mirrored in the Hollywood film noir classic, Mildred Pierce. Restaurateur Chris Breed reinvigorated the memory of the Egyptian Theater Pig 'N Whistle by re-establishing the classic franchise in 2002 on Hollywood Boulevard.