Downtown Los Angeles is set to lose Rossoblu, a nearly 10-year-old Northern Italian restaurant, on Sunday, November 1, 2026, while West Hollywood's Employees Only bar will serve its last drink on Sunday, September 27. Both establishments, Rossoblu owned by chef Steve Samson and his wife–business partner Dina Samson, and Employees Only managed by Tom Sopit, attributed their closures to a confluence of difficulties facing the local hospitality industry.
Owners from both businesses echoed similar challenges: a general slowdown in dining across Los Angeles and significant increases in operational costs, including labor, rent, and ingredients. Tom Sopit, managing partner for Employees Only, characterized the situation not as a single fatal blow, but rather as "death by a thousand cuts." He pointed to West Hollywood's rising minimum wage, mandated paid time-off for workers, escalating cost of goods, inflation, a vandalized air conditioning unit last year, and evolving drinking trends, including the impact of GLP-1 medications, as contributing factors. West Hollywood's local ordinance requires full-time employees to receive a minimum of 96 compensated hours annually for sick leave, vacation, or personal necessity.
Sopit also noted a demographic shift among his professional bartenders, many of whom are aspiring actors who have moved out of Los Angeles. He suggested that the city's high cost of living, combined with the shift to online auditions, has made it less viable for production work, stating, “There are gigs in Vancouver, Jersey, and New York, but not here. Auditions are online. I was born and raised in Los Angeles. There are usually production trucks everywhere. Not anymore, it’s dead.” Employees Only, which opened in 2018 on Santa Monica Boulevard, had become a regular haunt for industry professionals and plans to host a final blowout party on September 27 to honor its run. Sopit, who has been in hospitality since 2008, expressed pride in bringing people together through the bar, while contemplating his own future in the industry.
For Rossoblu, Dina Samson revealed that the restaurant faced financial struggles from its inception. “When we started, we ran out of money as we were building Rossoblu,” she said, describing a continuous effort to secure funding for each payment since day one. Over its nine years, the restaurant navigated the prolonged effects of the pandemic and the 2023 Hollywood labor strikes. It also endured a temporary closure after a kitchen fire in 2018, and another halt in service following a severe fire that damaged a stretch of the 10 Freeway in Downtown in 2023. Slowdowns from 2025 fires and ongoing ICE enforcement also played a role, according to Dina Samson, alongside the mounting costs of maintaining nearly decade-old equipment without sufficient funds or returning guest numbers.
The Samsons considered retooling the restaurant themselves but found the projected profit margins too slim. Dina Samson also cited the personal toll the stress of running the business had taken on her health, even after the 2025 closure of their Playa Vista Italian restaurant, Superfine Playa. The couple remains uncertain about the future of their Superfine Pizza location, which is a short walk from Rossoblu. Ultimately, Rossoblu has been sold, though specific details of the deal are currently undisclosed. The Samsons will step back from operational management, with the new, unnamed owners planning to reimagine the space. Dina Samson shared that Steve Samson and the new buyers are collaborating on a new concept that she believes “is going to change that part of Downtown,” and that the Rossoblu team may likely return when it reopens. Dina, for her part, feels a sense of relief regarding this closure, having already come to terms with the restaurant’s eventual end.
These closures reflect a challenging period for long-standing Los Angeles dining establishments. Other recent closures include Delicias Bakery and Some, Sky’s Gourmet Tacos, and Crustacean. Even Toi on Sunset, a Hollywood institution for 40 years, has expressed concerns about potential closure due to a significant drop in late-night customers post-pandemic and the repayment of Paycheck Protection Program loans, leading the restaurant to establish a GoFundMe campaign for support.
