Wolfgang Puck & Frank Gehry Get Coastal Commission Approval To Build A New Restaurant At Gladstones Site

The effort to build a new restaurant at the site now occupied by Gladstones just took a huge step forward.

The California Coastal Commission last week approved an application to build a Frank Gehry-designed, Wolfgang Puck-run venue, with conditions.

The venue will include a new 17,712 sq. ft. restaurant (that’s down from Gladstones’ 20,000 sq. foot restaurant and dining deck footprint), a 2,094 sq. ft. public deck with seating, two public restrooms, a cafe and a retail shop.

“There will be two restaurants, one more casual for people who want to get food or ice cream and eat at the beach and one more upscale restaurant,” Puck told the Los Angeles Times after L.A. County Supervisors voted 3-1 in 2018 to allow his group to negotiate with the Department of Beaches and Harbors.

One of Puck’s partners in the venture, Tom Tellefsen, told Deadline that the idea is to deliver an new space respectful of the memories people may have, but also one that inspires new memories.

There is, of course, the wow factor of having Puck involved. And Gehry’s involvement makes it unparalleled.

“This is a first in the world,” said Tellefsen. “The first restaurant that Gehry has done from the ground up.”

The public deck will be separated from the restaurant, which will be fine dining. The cafe will offer fare at a more accessible price point.

The State of California owns the land and leases it long-term to Los Angeles County. Puck and Tellefsen’s PCH Beach Associates, LLC has been working on the project for eight years, ever since the Request for Proposals went out in April 2017.

The next steps will be to get building permits approved and start construction.

PCH Beach Associates, LLC aims to break ground in Q2 2026. After 18 months of construction, the plan is to open in the first quarter of 2028.

See below for an artist’s concept of the finished space.

In terms of parking, the development will take the current 212-space public state beach parking lot down to 141-parking stalls. There will be valet parking mixed in, with a turnaround loop for the Big Blue Bus and Metro public transportation stations to be installed. While some may cry foul at the decrease in spaces, Tellefsen points out that there will actually be more available public parking, given that there will be fewer patrons on site; the new restaurant will have 450 seats vs. Gladstones’ 707 seats.

There’s a lot at stake.

The location is spectacular. As a result, Gladstones has often been one of the highest-grossing independent eateries in the U.S. In 2018, the seafood spot ranked in the Top 100 nationwide, according to Restaurant Business. Per that publication, in 2018 Gladstones served 300,000 meals at an estimated average price of $50 each. Estimated revenue was $14M. Of course, given its pedigree, the new restaurant will likely charge more than $50 a meal.

Gladstones was owned for decades by former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, who died in April 2023.

The process has sparked criticism from Palisades locals. They have called out inadequate community engagement, reduced parking and the project’s timing as residents deal with the fallout from the Palisades Fire.

Tellefsen told Deadline that such accusations simply aren’t true.

“The bottom line is that the process has gone through a number of public hearings. No one hid anything,” he said. “I also made presentations at the Palisades Community Council. The project that I laid out in 2018 for the RFP is virtually identical to what it is today.”

Puck has indicated that, for him, the restaurant would be a legacy piece, of sorts.

“The location is so iconic that really for me it’s the last iconic place I will do.”

Coastal Commissioner Chris Lopez seems to agree, telling the Palisades News, “This location, with this investment in architecture, will become a landmark in California.”