Raise a Pint to The Cat & Fiddle's 40th Anniversary Celebration

The British pub has entered popular imagination over time, but it is very much a real place, a salt-of-the-earth location that has made a heart-true connection with its regulars, building community with each pint of bitters or plate of fish & chips placed before a delighted guest.

Still, this real-world place is also simultaneously a storied spot, one that has entered the mythos of our shared, movie-centric dreams.

Famous films have regularly centered their action around a village's public house, with "Shaun of the Dead" and "An American Werewolf in London," as well as dozens of other great flicks, elevating the pub to a movie star in its own right.

And finding a local hangout that lives up to that cinematic reputation?

In a phrase, Bob's your uncle: It's not hard at all to find a true gem of a pub in the middle of Los Angeles.

Fans of hearty pies of the most savory sorts, big Beef Wellingtons, and vinegar-soaked chips have long looked to The Cat & Fiddle, a brilliant bastion of Brit-style supping and sipping for over four decades.

Now the pub, which was founded by Kim and Paula Gardner in 1982, is ready to lift some suds high in the air, all to celebrate its 40th anniversary.

Mr. Gardner, a British bassist who played on several seminal albums of the '60s and '70s, was longing for a pub like the ones he loved back home. So he and Paula brought some rock-strong cred and cheeky flair to the first iteration of The Cat, which debuted in Laurel Canyon some 40 years ago.

In three short years, the bustling, bursting-at-the-seams pub popped over to Sunset Boulevard, where it would remain for over three decades.

But new development meant a new address for The Cat, so in 2017 it made a new home in the former Highland Grounds building in Hollywood near Melrose Avenue.

Mr. Gardner passed away in 2001, and Paula, along with the couple's three daughters, continued his legacy of perfecting the perfect far-from-home pub, which can now be found at 742 N. Highland Avenue.

The family-helmed business is still serving those famous pies, pints, and now a new afternoon tea, a bit of poshness among the cheer 'n beer (and, for sure, you can get an all-important sausage roll with your cuppa).

Adding to the cheer of its most recent but now well-established home? There's a pretty open-air patio, something longtime fans loved about the pub's Sunset scene.

"My father, Kim, always intended for his pub to be a gathering place for the neighborhood where all were welcome," said Ashlee Gardner, who runs the pub with her mum, Paula. 

"Forty years young and many pints later, my family and our staff continue to welcome our guests with the same open arms my parents first offered the community many years ago."

How to best wish this moxie-filled mainstay a happy 40th? Stop by and enjoy a special from Oct. 20 through 22.

Shepherd's Pies are priced at $12 for the festivities, and there's a six-buck Harp Lager. DJ tunes on Oct. 20, and live music on Oct. 21 and 22, will up the convivial spirit of this spirited spot.

Happy 40th to The Cat and Fiddle!