The recently shuttered Arby’s restaurant on Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard will soon be home to a temporary pizza joint, and its famous neon cowboy hat sign will remain untouched – for now.

On Thursday, New York-based Prince Street Pizza announced that it will open a pop-up drive-thru at Sunset and Bronson Avenue on Aug. 8 and remain open until Halloween.

The pizzeria will serve Sicilian-style slices daily from 4 p.m. until 4 a.m. There will be no indoor seating, but customers can still park and dine at the cement picnic tables below the iconic sign.

“We understand what this location has meant to the Hollywood community over the past five decades and want to be as respectful of that as possible,” said Prince Street Pizza CEO Lawrence Longo. “Even though we are bringing in a new concept to the space, we are not touching the sign, as we see it as part of history.”

  • Prince Street Pizza Hollywood Rendering
    A rendering of the Prince Street Pizza pop-up at 5920 Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood. (Boredom Kills Creative)
  • Prince Street Pizza Hollywood Rendering
    A rendering of the Prince Street Pizza pop-up at 5920 Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood. (Boredom Kills Creative)

Artist renderings show the building will be painted white with green lettering, in sharp contrast to the 20-foot-tall maroon and yellow “Arby’s Roast Beef Sandwich” sign that has illuminated Sunset Boulevard since 1969. While the rendering shows the sign reading “Prince St. Pizza,” a marketing spokesperson said that will not be the reality.

The 55-year-old Arby’s, situated between two historic film studios and within blocks of many other entertainment industry fixtures, abruptly closed in mid-June after years of financial difficulty primarily caused by the pandemic, the franchisee told KTLA 5 News. Its windows and doors were quickly boarded up, and graffiti vandals promptly left their mark.

The property’s long-term future remains unclear. But for now, the iconic sign will survive this first evolution.

Shuttered Hollywood Arby's
The shuttered Arby’s on Sunset Boulevard is seen vandalized by graffiti in early July 2024. (KTLA)

Prince Street Pizza was founded in 2012 and has nine locations in Southern California, as well as stores in Las Vegas, Miami, Toronto and its flagship restaurant at 27 Prince Street in Manhattan.

“We are thrilled to work with Longo in bringing an innovative drive-thru pizza slice concept to our neighborhood and look forward to this next chapter,” the property owners said in a statement. “Longo and the Prince Street Pizza team have been respectful of the drive-thru’s history at Sunset & Bronson, while also breathing new life into the corner.”