Blog: The Valley’s Iconic Sportsmen’s Lodge Damaged in Overnight Kitchen Fire

An early morning electrical fire in a kitchen of the Sportsmen’s Lodge has caused considerable damage to portions of the landmark property, according to Studio City Patch. A team of 57 firefighters began extinguishing the blaze just after 2 a.m., and a partial knock down was declared at 4:06 a.m., per Margaret Stewart of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

As the “knockdown” term indicates, some of the historic property’s walls had to be taken down in order to extinguish the fire as it traveled through the ventilation system and into hard-to-reach areas between floors. No one was injured in the fire, which started in the events center area, and the exact cause remains under investigation.

For those unfamiliar, the Sportsmen’s Lodge an iconic Valley destination that combos as a cluster of restaurant spaces, events destination, and hotel. The original footprint of the property has been in use since the 1880s, though many new structures have been built and modified over the years. As the name suggests, the Sportsmen’s Lodge was originally conceived as a faux wilderness playground complete with manmade ponds for fishing, and over the years the landmark facility became perhaps even more famous as a destination among Hollywood legends like Katherine Hepburn, Clark Gable, and John Wayne.

In 2015, plans were made to redevelop the entire property and turn it into an indoor-outdoor shopping experience, but the process has languished at the city level for years. Back in November, developers won a battle over landscaping that allowed their plans to move forward, though no new timetable for demolition had been given before the fire. According to the LAFD, arson experts were brought in to assess the overnight blaze.

Curbed LA

The Sportsmen’s Lodge is just the latest kitchen-related fire to spark up around the city, with Lucky Boy in Pasadena shut down this week due to a minor blaze. Urth Caffe in the Arts District also had a fire to contend with earlier this month, and Rossoblu in the Fashion District only recently reopened from a kitchen fire themselves. Despite the damage done, the Sportsmen’s Lodge website says the events center portion of the property should be back up and running shortly.

Sportsmen’s Lodge. 12825 Ventura Boulevard, Studio City, CA.