Gore is not lacking in global phenomenon The Game of Thrones, along with glorious locations such as the UNESCO World Heritage listed Alcázar of Seville in Spain. Gay-friendly Seville is home to the annual Orgullo de Andalucía (Andalusia Pride) each June and annual Guadalki Bear bear weekend in October. Tapas restaurant Casa Curro, an hour east in Osuna, is where Emilia Clarke, playing “Dragon Queen” Daenerys Targaryen, celebrated her birthday during season five.
Another ancient gay-friendly Game of Thrones filming destination was Malta, where in 1999, hell-raising British actor Oliver Reed passed away during the filming of Gladiator (2000) after a drinking session at English-style The Pub. With star turns in films including Oliver! (1968), Ken Russell-directed The Devils (1971) and Tommy (1975), and The Three Musketeers (1973), Reed is remembered at this all-welcoming sailors’ watering hole, which sponsors the local all inclusive Honey Island Rollers roller derby team.
The Los Angeles landscape naturally abounds with culinary cameos and locations. Downtown’s Cicada Restaurant and Lounge is where spunky call girl Vivian (Julia Roberts) catapulted her escargot across the room in Pretty Woman. Located in the landmark 1928 Oviatt Building and featuring Art Deco geometric pendants and chandeliers, the California-inspired Italian restaurant also doubled as the “Dollhouse” in 2022’s mind-bending thriller Don’t Worry Darling.
The Musso & Frank Grill (Photo by JonPaul Douglass)
Hollywood, fittingly, is home of the ultimate industry restaurant, Musso & Frank Grill, or Musso’s for short. Opened in 1919 as Frank’s Café, L.A.’s oldest restaurant is a thriving, transporting time capsule of wood-paneled walls, faded murals, red leather banquettes and red bolero-jacketed waiters that have seated countless Hollywood and literary legends, with tales to match. Recently appearing in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), Musso’s is dopamine central for movielovers.
Seated in a prime booth where John Hamm (Mad Men was filmed here) had dined the night before, and equidistant from the Rolling Stones’ corner booth (Keith Richards once gifted legendary late bartender Ruben Rueda an electric Gibson guitar), and Frank Sinatra’s favorite booth, my recent three-hour Musso’s dinner was a dream come true.
The food is decadent, including the Original Fettuccine Alfredo, following a recipe brought to the restaurant from Alfredo’s Restaurant in Rome by silent film stars Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, and Sinatra’s favorite, the New York Cheesecake. After three legendary Perfect Martinis (gin or vodka, no vermouth, in-house cured olives, chilled to perfection, and served with a refill carafe in crushed ice) I felt no pain. The biggest high though was the sense of place—the vibes of history and prestige are unmistakable and irresistible.
Musso’s pointedly stirs, not shakes, its martinis, which brings us back to James Bond and two venues with serious 007 cachet.
Born in 1908 in London’s ritzy Mayfair district, Ian Fleming frequented another 1908 Mayfair original, Dukes London, where he conceived 007’s “shaken not stirred” vodka martini catchphrase at the hotel’s Dukes Bar. Signature concoctions on legendary head barman Alessandro Palazzi’s Bond-inspired martini menu include The Vesper. Breaking the rules, as was Bond’s custom, his tableside trolley cart special mixes two white spirits, No. 3 London Dry gin and Polish Potocki vodka. The latter references Polish born WW2 spy Krystyna Skarbek, reportedly Fleming’s lover and his inspiration for Casino Royale Bond girl Vesper Lynd.
Palazzi’s martinis, which also include The Moneypenny and The Goldeneye, kick like Bond’s Beretta pistol; guests are limited to two rounds.
007 Bar at Piz Gloria (Photo by Photo by Benny Marty)
Bond aficionados herald 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (OHMSS) as a series champion. Serving as villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld’s mountaintop lair in the film, Schilthorn Piz Gloria in Switzerland’s Interlaken region is the ultimate walk in 007’s footsteps. Reached by cable car, this 360-degree revolving restaurant, keeping the “Piz Gloria” name from the film, crowns the 9,744-foot Schilthorn, one of the highest peaks in the Bernese Alps. Attractions include the James Bond Brunch, interactive Spy World exhibition, and the “Walk of Fame” tribute to star George Lazenby and 14 other OHMSS cast and crew members.
When sleeping or dining like a star, you have all the time in the world.
