“Vanderpump Rules” stars/“The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” alums Lisa Vanderpump and Ken Todd shocked the Bravosphere yesterday with the revelation that their immensely popular West Hollywood eatery Pump would be shutting its doors for good in early July “after ten years of beautiful evenings under our olive trees.” The announcement marked the second major bomb to be dropped by Todd this week. As reported by TMZ, the impending closure comes as a result of a massive rent increase. Rumors regarding the restaurant’s future have been circulating since mid-March when CityStreet Commercial managing partner Leslie Haro told Entertainment Tonight that the property’s landlord was in the process of looking for a new long-term tenant. A listing announcement on the CityStreet brokerage’s Instagram account soon followed, which had fans and longtime patrons crying into their Pump-Tinis.
Prominently located on the extraordinarily well-heeled and well-traveled corner of Santa Monica and Robertson Blvds., just down the street from Todd and Vanderpump’s other two WeHo eateries, TomTom and SUR (as well as The Abbey, which has been the source of much discussion on “Vanderpump Rules” as of late, ever since series star Ally Lewber famously caught Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss dancing there alone late one night), the eponymous Pump initially opened in May 2014 to much fanfare. A hit from the jump, its arrival followed the insane success of both SUR and Villa Blanca, the duo’s Beverly Hills eatery, which sadly shuttered in 2020, also due to a rent increase, and, quite tellingly, remains empty today.
Pump’s precarious future and the onset of the Scandoval scandal have done nothing to dissuade patronage in recent weeks, with the lounge remaining as popular as ever. As Vulture’s Bethy Squires reported last month, “Arriving at the West Hollywood institution, you’d never know the place was in real-estate limbo. It’s packed with a line seven deep at the host stand.”
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Image Credit: Bravo! Prior to Lisa and Ken taking over the Pump space, the property was the site of a Java Detour Coffee & Tea Bar outpost and an adjoining parking lot, both of which the couple expertly transformed into an exquisite French-inspired garden setting. As LVP explained at the start of “VPR’s” third season, “Ken and I have decided to open a brand new restaurant/lounge/bar in the epicenter of the gay community. I have a vision. I know I can create something that is going to take sexy to a whole new level in West Hollywood.”
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Image Credit: Bravo! The design was a true labor of love, with the restauranteur lamenting in “Vanderpump’s” season three premiere, “Pump has been an incredibly difficult project. I would say probably the most difficult project to date. We’ve ended up having to put on a whole new story ’cause we didn’t have the square footage. We’ve ended up with three times as many toilets as I thought we needed. It’s taken us twice as long and it’s cost us twice as much money. I’ve almost lost my mind over this project.” The end result was certainly worth the added stressors, though. Following Pump’s opening, the star concluded, “I’ve always said to every man, Villa Blanca is where you take your wife, SUR is where you take your mistress, and now Pump can be where you take your boyfriend.” (To that end, following the overturn of Proposition 8, the reality star became ordained as a minister in order to officiate weddings for LGBTQ couples on the premises.)
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Image Credit: Bravo! Though “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” star NeNe Leakes once claimed that Pump was actually her idea, its interior is undeniably Lisa, complete with a quartet of towering 100-year-old olive trees that had to be craned in, a collection of glittering chandeliers, reclaimed wood benches, plush banquettes and a bar fashioned from “the sides of a 19th-century Parisian bridge,” each accented in the restauranteur’s signature pink.
The elevated comfort food offerings are also undeniably Vanderpump. Crafted by executive chef/menu curator Penny Davidi (of “Chopped” and “Cutthroat Kitchen” fame), who describes Pump’s culinary vibe as “Mediterranean garden fare,” dishes include such staples as fried calamari, handmade mushroom ravioli, chicken Milanese, pan-roasted filet and the Pinky Pump Burger, a grilled Angus beef patty topped with caramelized onions, feta cheese, aioli and butter lettuce, served on a brioche bun alongside a small arugula salad and thick-cut country fries.
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Image Credit: Bravo! A bonafide small-screen star in its own right, Pump has been featured countless times on both “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” and “Vanderpump Rules.” The site of numerous memorable and often cringeworthy moments, it was at the restaurant that Stassi Schroeder’s then-boyfriend Patrick Meagher repeatedly complimented Lisa’s derrière in “VPR’s” season six finale. In that same episode, Todd and LVP also finally officially offered DJ James Kennedy his SUR gig back after previously firing him (one of many times) over his erratic behavior.
And it was at Pump that Katie Maloney’s longtime boyfriend, print model Tom Schwartz, convinced Lisa to give him a chance at working behind the bar in season three’s “All Fired Up.” His mixologist stint does not exactly go as planned, however, and he famously walks off the job only 30 minutes into his first shift, the stresses of learning the ins and outs of his new position resulting in a major panic attack. As he tried to explain to Stassi at Pump’s grand opening party in the episode prior, “I’m out of my element right now. I’m not used to working, in my defense. I don’t know if I’m cut out for this whole work thing, you know what I’m saying? I got spoiled. Four years of not working. I’m sweating. I don’t sweat!” He was able to look back on the experience later with humor, good-naturedly joking in a Bravo TV blog write-up, “Not my most gallant moment. I do think they should honor my cowardice at Pump with a drink called ‘The Panic Attack.'”
While Lisa did not take that suggestion to heart, the establishment’s cocktail menu is chock full of cheekily-named specialty libations, including Take Mai Tie Off, Espress-o Yourself and, of course, the Pump-Tini, a blush-colored concoction crafted with vodka, Pavan liqueur, fresh grapefruit, fresh lime, muddled raspberry and a sugary garnish.
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Image Credit: Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images Though the eatery has enjoyed immense popularity throughout the past decade (thanks in large part to its onscreen fame and celebrity owners), it has also seen its fair share of bad luck in recent years. In January 2020, just before the pandemic hit and caused a succession of closures, a driver lost control while venturing down Santa Monica Blvd., crashing his Ferrari into Pump’s patio in the middle of the Sunday brunch rush. The site’s liquor license was also revoked for a short time this past March, just a week after news of Scandoval broke.
And now, a steep rent hike is forcing its closure. TMZ reports that “sources close to the family” say Lisa and Ken “refused to commit to paying nearly $1 million in yearly rent, with the couple considering the figure to be ridiculous.” Indeed! At $84,000 a month, that’s a lot of Vanderpump Rosé the duo would have to peddle to turn a profit!
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Image Credit: Google One of Los Angeles’ most famous and viable restaurant sites, CityStreet Commercial should have no difficulty securing a new tenant for the Pump space ($1-million-a-year-rent, notwithstanding), though seeing a different eatery on the premises will be heartbreaking for any Bravophile. While fans still have the opportunity to visit TomTom and SUR (not to mention Schwartz & Sandy’s), the closure of Pump truly marks the end of an era.