The monthly BEAT: Hollywood. The Cat & Fiddle.

Among the clubs and glitzy restaurants, the Cat & Fiddle finds itself nestled quietly among them all. Quietly for Hollywood, at least. The restaurant takes up a huge large space with a spacious and pretty patio, but proudly calls itself a pub, which means soccer (erm, football) and other sports games being broadcast on TV screens, there's often live entertainment by bands (jazz on Sundays!) and the general sort of shenanigans you'd expect from a good old fashioned British spot. And that's what can often make it a sort of oasis in Hollywood. Gone are all the pretensions and shallowness this area can sometimes inhabit. This is just a honest-to-goodness pub. Drop into the Cat & Fiddle and you can sit back and just enjoy a cold pint, maybe even play some (free) darts or a game of pool. The waiters and waitresses and bartenders are always friendly, and ready to serve you a good serving of fish and chips, or bangers and mash.

And hey, you can still get a taste of Hollywood here: scenes from Casablanca were filmed there, when it used to act as commissary for surrounding film studios back in the day.

The Cat & Fiddle is located at 6530 Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood.

-- Chau Tu

Photo credit: The Cat & Fiddle