Meet Wally Moran | General Manager, Wood & Vine

We had the good fortune of connecting with Wally Moran and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Wally, how does your business help the community?

Wood & Vine has been called “An Oasis on the Boulevard” since we opened in 2011. We are thrilled that over the years, we have also become a neighborhood gathering place. Residents, business and community leaders, the staffs of businesses all over Hollywood and the casts of the shows at the Pantages all gather at our bar and on our patio to relax, reset, or talk about the issues facing our community. We make it a priority to introduce these people to each other to connect people throughout the community.

We are still living through unprecedented times, and Hollywood is still trying to recover. Since we reopened post-pandemic, we have tried to bring the whole neighborhood together, so we can speak frankly about the problems facing our community and how we can work together to find solutions.

It was an honor this year to partner with Arts Bridging the Gap and the Hollywood Police Activities League to help sponsor two community events on the Boulevard: United Streets of America, an art show at Hollywood & Highland in May, and The Hollywood PAL Car Show at Hollywood & Vine in June. It was an amazing experience to welcome people back on to the Boulevard for free events for the community and the city.

On the actual charity side, Wood & Vine has always had a commitment to supporting charities throughout the city, and we have a lot of fun with this. We are thrilled to have hosted a Carbo-Load Dinner each year for the Hollywood Police Activities League kids running in the LA Marathon. Over the years, we have invited other restaurants to join us, and have had a lot of fun serving McDonalds Quarter Pounders & fries and Pink’s Hot Dogs on our patio!

Our go-to charity donation is a Chef’s Tasting Dinner, where the winner comes in and we feed them…for hours. It is a point of pride for us that these dinners last for hours, and the record is 6 hours, 15 minutes in the restaurant!

We have also had the privilege of hosting scheduled and impromptu community meetings over the years and are quite proud the community comes together on our patio.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

My career began in NY when I was 15. I became a “Certified Party Aid” to help people in my hometown throw parties. I got a certificate and one client, Ruth. I helped her with her entertaining and catered her family Thanksgiving dinner for 13 years.

Fast forward to 2002. I am catering the spring launch for Versace on Rodeo Drive with Tommy Tang. Tommy comes up to me during the event to introduce me to a friend of his…it was Ruth! It was truly a full circle moment in my career (once I regained my composure)!

I have worked in events and operations on both coasts and have worked in most of LA’s dining markets since I moved here in ’99. Finding the right fit is critical, and I have been blessed to have found it several times throughout my career.

There was a stretch of job hopping over several years, where it didn’t quite gel.

In 2016 a Chef friend convinced me to go to an interview I didn’t want to go to, at a restaurant across the street from the Pantages.

It was, and remains, a perfect fit! My boss gets me and encourages me to be me (which is a lot). Together, we navigated the pandemic and reopening in a new and frequently changing “normal”. We’ve been in business for 11 years and had to throw out the playbook in 2020 and begin a new one, which continues to evolve.

I also like to tell our guests that I went to college twice. Once for hospitality management and once for theatre…so I have the perfect job!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

The beach in Malibu
Any movie at the Chinese Theatre
Any show at the Pantages
IO, the rooftop at the Godfrey
Any movie on the Montalban’s rooftop
Amoeba
Funko
Rodeo Drive

Dining:
Blu Jam Cafe
L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele
Mastro’s Beverly Hills
Off Vine
Katsuya
Tao
Musso & Frank’s

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?

We were closed for 409 days during the pandemic and were one of the last restaurants in Hollywood to reopen. On April 29, 2021, we reopened, not really knowing what to expect…

Our friends came…thousands of them! People drove in from all over LA, from Santa Barbara, from Palm Springs and Temecula–to have dinner at Wood & Vine.

A year and a half later, I am still humbled and moved by the outpouring of support from our guests.

We are thrilled to be “your place” and promise to continue to show our appreciation for as long as Wood & Vine exists. We are here for and because of you, and I will never forget that.

To our amazing guests, friend and neighbors, thank you all!

Website: woodandvine.com

Instagram: @woodandvine

Twitter: @woodandvine

Facebook: @woodandvine