At the Golden Girls Kitchen, which opened in Beverly Hills on July 30 (aka National Golden Girls Day), cheesecake and plenty of kitsch are on the menu.
Produced by events and experiences firm Bucket Listers, in partnership with the show's rights holder Disney, the new pop-up restaurant is a homage to the iconic TV show, transporting guests to silver-haired senior living in 1980s Miami, including a recreation of Blanche’s palm print-clad bedroom and offerings such as Sophia's lasagna al forno.
“I've always been a huge fan of pop culture and nostalgia, as well as a Golden Girls fan, so after enough comments from the public on past pop-ups saying, 'when is Golden Girls,' I finally took a moment and thought 'when is Golden Girls?!,'" said Bucket Listers director of experiences Derek Berry, who has also produced popular pop-ups such as Saved by the Max, Good Burger, and The Peach Pit. “I reached out to the IP holder [Disney] and told them about the full Golden Girls dining experience we'd created, and they loved it. From there, it was a lot of rewatch-binging of Golden Girls to truly bring this to life in the most special of ways.”
After its Beverly Hills run, the pop-up will make stops in New York this fall, followed by Miami and San Francisco over the winter, and Chicago next spring.
“I feel Golden Girls really began to touch people over the last few years,” Berry said. “With Betty [White] passing most recently, we felt like we could pay proper tribute to her and the rest of the girls through a full immersive experience, tapping all five senses of why people loved the show. We felt like a full restaurant goes a step further than the regular activations and themed pop-ups fans are used to and really could bring people into the world of the Golden Girls.”
Keep scrolling to see more from inside the Golden Girls Kitchen and other recent quirky restaurant pop-ups from brands.