What is replacing Bootsy Bellows on the Sunset Strip?

Little Luck, a Japanese izakaya from the h.wood Group, is taking over the former Bootsy Bellows nightclub space at 9229 W. Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. It is the company's first Japanese concept.

Who is the chef at Little Luck?

Erik Idos runs the kitchen. Per the restaurant's own site, he spent nearly a decade at Nobu and served as an executive chef in Hong Kong before returning to Los Angeles.

When does Little Luck open?

The original announcement targeted late July, but the opening has since moved to fall 2026 with no firm date confirmed. Updates are posted at littleluckla.com.

Where is Little Luck located?

Little Luck is at 9229 W. Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90069, on the Sunset Strip directly across from the Soho House. Valet is the realistic parking option.

Is Bootsy Bellows closed?

The West Hollywood nightclub space is being converted into Little Luck by the same operator, the h.wood Group. The Bootsy Bellows name continues at SoFi Stadium.

What other restaurants is the h.wood Group opening?

Little Luck was announced alongside Montana's, a speakeasy-inspired lounge and restaurant at 11920 San Vicente Boulevard in Brentwood, and The Nice Guy Newport Beach at 2607 West Coast Highway, both targeting 2027.

Bootsy Bellows Is Now an Izakaya, and the Chef Spent a Decade at Nobu

Oct 1

3 min read

Same operator, same four walls, a completely different hour of the evening.

The h.wood Group is turning 9229 W. Sunset Boulevard, one of the most recognizable club addresses on the Strip, into Little Luck, the company's first Japanese concept. The space was Bootsy Bellows, a bottle-service nightclub the same company ran for more than a decade.

It is an in-house transition, which makes it more interesting than a simple turnover. h.wood is not losing a lease. It is deciding that a room which made its money after midnight should make it at dinner instead.

The chef is the story

Erik Idos runs the kitchen, and this is a homecoming. Per the restaurant's own site, Idos spent nearly a decade at Nobu and served as an executive chef in Hong Kong before returning to Los Angeles for this.

The restaurant describes itself as a Japanese izakaya, which is a more specific and more promising word than the elevated Japanese framing in the early announcements. An izakaya is a drinking room that takes its food seriously, and on a block built around bottle service that is a genuinely sensible evolution rather than a pivot.

What Bootsy Bellows was

Worth recording, since the room is going. Bootsy Bellows was co-owned by h.wood founders John Terzian and Brian Toll alongside David Arquette, who named it for his mother, a former burlesque dancer and pinup model, and devised its vaudeville-meets-nightclub format. Terzian and Toll launched the company in 2008. WEHO Online covered the handover.

The Bootsy Bellows name continues at SoFi Stadium.

The bigger expansion

Little Luck is one of three Southern California projects h.wood announced together. Per Commercial Observer:

Little Luck, West Hollywood, 9229 W. Sunset Boulevard.
Montana's, a speakeasy-inspired lounge and restaurant at 11920 San Vicente Boulevard in Brentwood, targeting early 2027.
The Nice Guy Newport Beach, at 2607 West Coast Highway, the company's first Orange County location, also 2027.

Toll framed the three as deliberately placed in neighborhoods where locals wanted elevated dining rather than nightlife. That tracks with the group's other recent move, Alphabet Bar and Grill at Palisades Village, its first neighborhood-focused concept, which opened in August with chef Timothy Hollingsworth.

For a company built on Delilah, The Nice Guy, Keys, Harriet's, Poppy and Bird Streets, converting a nightclub into an izakaya and opening a family restaurant in the Palisades in the same year is a real shift in posture.

Timing

This one has moved. The original announcement targeted a late July opening. WWD more recently placed it in the fall, and no firm date has been confirmed. Terzian and Toll have described the restaurant as a new chapter with ingredients and craft at the center, which is the language of a dining room rather than a club.

Visiting

Little Luck is at 9229 W. Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90069, on the Strip directly across from the Soho House, in the former Bootsy Bellows space.

Opening: fall 2026, no confirmed date.
Format: Japanese izakaya, h.wood's first Japanese concept.
Design: renderings show earthy tones and Japanese-inspired detailing, a departure from the vaudeville staging the space carried for a decade.
Parking: valet is the realistic option on that stretch of Sunset. Street parking on the Strip is close to theoretical on a weekend.
Updates: posted at littleluckla.com.

What we have our eye on: whether an izakaya can hold a room built for bottle service. The format rewards long sitting and small plates, which is the opposite of what that address has done for ten years. FJM will report back after opening.

Follow along with more LA restaurant news, see what else has opened in our guide to new restaurants in Los Angeles, or browse our picks for the best food in Los Angeles.