Toi on Sunset, the rock-and-roll Thai restaurant that has fed Sunset Strip clubgoers and Hollywood legends since 1986, has launched a GoFundMe campaign to keep its doors open. The restaurant, located between Hollywood and the Sunset Strip, took out loans during the COVID-19 pandemic to survive, and those debts have now come due at a moment when late-night foot traffic still has not recovered.
The campaign, titled “Please Help Save Toi on Sunset!”, was organized by Kamalit Janlekha and seeks $150,000 in emergency funding, according to the GoFundMe page. As of Friday, the fundraiser had brought in a little over $8,000 toward that goal, per KTLA, which first reported on the restaurant's plea. Toi has told the public that Los Angeles cannot afford to lose another iconic independent establishment, and that the restaurant cannot simply disappear from the city it has served for four decades.
A Late-Night Hollywood Institution Loses Its Crowd
For nearly 40 years, Toi thrived on 4 a.m. crowds pouring out of nearby rock clubs and nightlife spots along the Sunset corridor, a rhythm that defined the restaurant almost as much as its menu of pad Thai and rock-and-roll soundtrack. That changed after the pandemic shuttered venues up and down the Strip and permanently altered when — and whether — night owls went out to eat, according to a statement Toi posted to Facebook. The restaurant, which had operated until 4 a.m. for decades, was ultimately forced to scale back its late-night hours as that foot traffic dried up.
Toi opened in 1986 at 7505 1/2 Sunset Boulevard at Gardner Street, in a stretch of Hollywood once known as the “Music Store District” for the recording shops and instrument stores that lined the block, according to the Los Angeles Times. The restaurant built its rock-and-roll identity around that surrounding music culture, and it shows: KTLA reports that Whitney Houston, Steven Tyler, Stevie Wonder and Lady Gaga have all walked through its doors over the years.
The Pulp Fiction Connection
Toi's most famous regular may have been Quentin Tarantino, who was a fixture at the restaurant throughout the 1990s and reportedly wrote significant portions of the screenplays for Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction while sitting at its tables, per the Los Angeles Times. A signed Pulp Fiction poster still hangs in the dining room, with Tarantino declaring himself the restaurant's most loyal customer. Toi owner Michael O'Brien has said the connection runs even deeper than screenwriting sessions: in an interview with UnRated Magazine, he stated that the distinctive look of Mia Wallace, the character played by Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction, was modeled directly after the restaurant's cashier at the time, and that Toi's interior influenced set details in the film.
Rising Costs Add to Old Debts
Toi's struggle lands amid a broader wave of restaurant closures along the Sunset Strip. The 45-year-old Chin Chin closed in 2025, and Pink Taco shut down after 12 years in 2024 — both citing reduced foot traffic and rising overhead, as SFGATE has reported. West Hollywood, which borders the stretch of Hollywood where Toi sits, implemented a $20.25 per hour minimum wage for non-hotel workers at the start of 2026, one of the highest municipal wage floors in the country, adding to labor costs for small independent operators nearby.
The city has tried to soften some of that pressure. In February, West Hollywood rolled out a municipal grant program offering up to $12,500 to restaurants struggling with inflation and rising expenses, though Hoodline previously reported that a one-time lifeline like that does little to offset long-term pandemic-era debt on its own. Not every legacy restaurant facing financial strain has been able to hang on through funding alone; 99-year-old Taix French Restaurant in Echo Park served its final meal in March ahead of demolition for a residential housing project, though it plans to return in a smaller footprint within the new development.
There is precedent for a happier outcome closer to home. Nearby West Hollywood bistro Le Petit Four announced in 2025 that it would close due to operating costs, then reversed course after a surge of community dining support kept it afloat. Toi appears to be hoping for a similar turnaround, having asked the public directly for help staying open and encouraged customers to come in for a meal rather than just donate online.
For now, Toi on Sunset remains open, still playing rock-and-roll for whoever walks in and still employing the restaurant workers who have kept it running through four decades of Hollywood history. Whether that history is enough to close the gap between $8,000 and $150,000 remains to be seen.
