On March 21, 1958, Dean Martin along with a business partner and freshly split from Jerry Lewis, opened Dino’s Lodge in the building where a failed restaurant called The Alpine Lodge used to operate. Serving Italian food, evidently (and somewhat predictably) it had Rat Pack feel with dark wood and plush booths. It was also featured in the TV series “77 Sunset Strip” even though such an address didn’t exist. Dino’s Lodge was on the Sunset Strip, but this bright red 1959 Rambler station wagon was parked at 8524 Sunset Blvd in West Hollywood.

Andie said: “It was a restaurant with good lighting, unlike some that were so dim one needed a flashlight to read the menu. it had excellent lighting in the dining rooms, a bit dimmer in the bar but no need to read menus in there.”

Rowland H. said: “You mentioned 77 Sunset Strip, here’s a shot of Dino’s. If you look to the right, that door you see in the building was where the entrance to the private detective offices were supposed to be in that show. Warner’s would bring out a metal awning with “77” on the front and place it there whenever they did a location shot of it. For closeups, they had a set built at the studio that matched the look.

Jerry Lewis opened his own restaurant at Sunset and Larabee, Jerry even stole the chef away from Dino’s Lodge to spite Dean Martin.

The Tudor-style building was razed in 1989. This is roughly how that view looked in May 2024.