Bella Restaurant from "The Hills"

UPDATE: Unfortunately, Bella's Restaurant has since closed. Currently (as of April 2014) it is a bar called Rusty Mullet.

LOCATION

Bella, a popular dinner & drinks destination on the first season of "The Hills".

ADDRESS

Bella Restaurant
1708 N Las Palmas Avenue
Hollywood, CA

STORY & PHOTOS

MTV's popular docu-drama "The Hills" showcased pretty people drinking, dating, and drama-ing in the glittery town of Hollywood, CA. Since "The Hills" is a "reality" show, many of the restaurants, clubs, and other locales are easy to find and visit if you're in the L.A. area.

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One place I wanted to go immediately after seeing it on "The Hills" was Bella Restaurant (officially Bella Cucina Italiana), right off Hollywood Boulevard. It looked like a cute little restaurant and has been seen on the show at least three times now. Its first appearance was in episode 105, "Jason's Birthday". Lauren, Jason, Heidi, and Jordan meet Brian and then Audrina there after Audrina has a lame date at El Coyote. All six of them squeezed into a cute leather booth for drinks and dinner.

(Bella was owned by the Dolce Group, a restaurant group that's had huge success since 2001 creating restaurants and clubs that become popular celebrity hangouts. Dolce was co-founded by Mike "Boogie" Malin of "Big Brother" notoriety, and garnered investments from celebrities like Ashton Kutcher, Laura Prepon, Danny Masterson, Wilmer Valderrama, and Jamie Kennedy. Many of Dolce's properties appeared on "The Hills", including Geisha House, Les Deux, and Ketchup. In recent years, the Dolce Group has been plagued by lawsuits as well as a failed VH1 show, "Famous Food," on which Heidi appeared.)

Bella appeared again on "The Hills" in season 3, when Lauren met Audrina and Justin Bobby for drinks in "Truth and Time Tells All" and things got super awkward:

Remember the look on Lauren's face when Justin just openly belched? Oh god. In season 4, Lauren's ex Doug and her friend (and Spencer's sister) Stephanie go there in "Don't Act Innocent":

I made my way to the eatery in 2007, where I had some delicious pesto pasta and acted like a nerd by taking a mirror pic in the bathroom.

I was super bummed when I returned a couple of years later and it was gone! Bella closed in 2010, when it became Angels and Kings, an L.A. extension of Pete Wentz's Chicago bar. It currently exists as the bar Rusty Mullet.

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STORY & PHOTO CREDITS

Written by Christina LeBlanc
Location photos by Christina LeBlanc and Alex Poulin