The kitchen has already gone dark at Aviator Melrose, the retro airplane-themed bar that turned cocktail hour into a mock first-class cabin experience. The spot is set to serve its final round this Saturday, November 14, closing permanently just 16 months after it opened its doors in July 2025.
Aviator Melrose said it made the difficult decision to close and shared the news in an Instagram post, according to the New York Post. With the kitchen already shuttered, the bar is pouring drinks only through its last days, serving cocktails, wine, and beer to anyone hoping for one final visit before the lights go out.
The bar built its identity around a full travel fantasy. Vintage airplane seats, simulated cabin windows, and overhead bins stuffed with retro luggage filled the space, while servers dressed in flight attendant uniforms rolled drinks out on carts, the Post's reporting notes. Travel-themed props, including passports and old magazines, rounded out the cabin cosplay, and cocktails ran from $19 to $24.
A Menu Built for the Jet-Set Fantasy
Before the kitchen closed, Aviator Melrose served crispy popcorn chicken, mini beef sliders, and warm nuts alongside its cocktail list, per the same outlet. The showstopper was an $85 sky-high baked potato topped with crème fraiche, chives, and caviar — a splurge item that leaned hard into the bar's upscale, in-flight theme.
Despite the elaborate theming, plenty of Angelenos say they never clocked that the bar existed at all. Some told the Post they had never heard of Aviator Melrose until its closure announcement started circulating, with one Instagram commenter writing, “wow never heard of it but now it's too late.” Another Angeleno put it more bluntly: “literally never heard about it, and i live a few blocks away from melrose.” One commenter suggested the bar might have stuck around longer if more people had simply known it was open.
Part of a Broader Closure Wave
Aviator Melrose's shutdown lands amid a wider wave of Los Angeles bar and restaurant closures, with business owners across the city facing rising rents, utilities, and labor costs. Downtown's Everson Royce Bar announced it will close before the end of 2026, with its owners describing Los Angeles as a disturbingly difficult place to do business, according to Eater LA. Augustine Wine Bar announced it will close next month as well, with its owners saying they could not raise prices enough to become profitable.
The pressures named across the industry go beyond any single business. Everson Royce Bar co-owner Randy Clement pointed to a significant drop in tourism, rising operational costs, changing drinking trends, and the long-term effects of the pandemic and entertainment industry strikes as the forces squeezing Los Angeles bars, per Eater LA's reporting. The outlet has also described an industry-wide slowdown tied to the 2023 Hollywood labor strikes that has continued into 2026.
The numbers back up the scale of the shakeout. The Los Angeles Times counted more than 100 Los Angeles restaurants and bars that closed in 2025 alone, citing wildfires, tariffs, immigration raids, labor costs, and declining tourism as compounding crises. A separate report citing RestaurantData, published by Food Journal Magazine, estimated 391 restaurant locations closed across California in just the first half of 2026.
Other Recent Casualties Around Los Angeles
Aviator Melrose joins a growing list of recent losses around the city. Culver City's rooftop cocktail spot Bar Bohemien closed suddenly last November, the Los Angeles Times reported, while Santa Monica's Tar & Roses closed on October 24 after its chef cited the pandemic, the Palisades Fire, rising costs, and ongoing crime as contributing factors, according to Eater LA. Los Feliz institution MessHall Kitchen served its final meal on October 17 after 14 years, and the Victorian in Santa Monica closed for good on October 31 after two decades as a venue, restaurant, and nightclub.
For now, Aviator Melrose is treating its remaining days as a last call rather than a farewell tour, with drinks still flowing through Saturday's close. Whatever curiosity the bar failed to capture in its first 16 months, it's finding some of it now — just as the cabin doors prepare to shut for good.
