Amid Elon Musk’s recent blitzkrieg of government spending cuts, the billionaire Tesla founder has simultaneously been making quiet, breakneck progress on an entirely different business venture — the long-awaited Tesla Diner & Drive-In.
The Los Angeles-based project dates back to 2018, when Musk first mused online about an old-school 24-hour restaurant spot that would serve diner food and provide entertainment options for Tesla drivers needing to charge their electric vehicles.
Seven years later, Musk’s vision of a dual dining-charging spot has come to fruition. Looming tall over a busy Hollywood block, the site boasts two towering 45-foot LED movie screens and dozens of V4 Supercharger stalls, as well as a saucer-shaped, open-air rooftop sitting under Los Angeles’ reliable sunshine.
As a former Business Insider reporter and West Hollywood resident, I spent one Friday morning earlier this month investigating the surprisingly quiet construction site ahead of the diner’s still-unknown opening.
Here’s what I saw.
The site takes up an entire street corner on a busy section of Santa Monica Boulevard.
The Tesla Diner & Drive-In sits on the north side of LA’s famous Santa Monica Boulevard, which runs from the Sunset Junction all the way to the Pacific Ocean. The plot extends backward onto N Orange Drive.
The site is near two of the busiest intersections in Hollywood, and only a few blocks from the 101 Freeway, where hundreds of thousands of drivers enter and exit traffic each day. The prime locale and easy freeway access plays in the diner’s favor.
Before being transformed into Musk’s retro-futuristic restaurant, the land was home to a Shakey’s Pizza.
In August 2023, the Los Angeles County Department of Building and Safety approved plans for the Tesla diner. Construction had moved quickly in the year-and-a-half since. It appears to be nearly done.
Tesla and the engineering and architecture firm working on the project, Stantec, didn’t respond to BI’s requests for information about the completion or opening date of the restaurant.
I was surprised by how quiet the construction site seemed for a Friday morning.
I spent about twenty minutes perusing the diner’s street corner, peering through the chain-link fence surrounding the entire enclosure. The graffiti-covered fence was covered by a tattered cloth, seemingly meant to keep looky-loos like me from snooping.
Broken pieces of the cloth cover, however, allowed me a peek behind the curtain, where I observed four construction workers milling about. Two men stood chatting with one another on-site for the entirety of my twenty-minute visit, while two others worked independently on various projects around the building.
I saw one private security guard standing outside the site.
The security guard, who was wearing an “Allied Universal Security” jacket, was standing on N Orange Drive, presumably watching over the site’s side entrance.
The nice young man told me he had “no idea” when the diner was supposed to open. Worth a shot!
The unmissable focal points of the site are its two towering video screens.
In an X post last month, Tesla investor Sawyer Merritt described the giant structures as 45-foot LED movie screens. Musk responded to the post, “It will be cool.”
I didn’t bring my tape measure to confirm their measurements, but I can confirm they are looming in every sense of the word.
A 2022 building permit for the diner said the screens would show half-hour-long films — just enough time for a Tesla driver to charge up, The New York Times reported earlier this year.
More recently, Musk has said the screens will show old movie clips, contributing to the site’s retro ambiance.
In 2023, he posted on X that the vibe of the space will be “Grease meets Jetsons with Supercharging.”
The two screens sit on diagonal ends of the half-acre complex, both wrapped in a metallic exterior.
I could see the back of one of the screens from a few blocks away.
I walked a mile from West Hollywood for my pilgrimage to the Tesla Diner & Drive-In. As I was approaching the site from a few blocks west, I first spotted the back of one of the giant video screens.
I didn’t know what the large structure in the sky was on my initial approach, but I snapped this pic on my walk back, after having witnessed the giant screens up close.
Here’s a view of one of the screens straight on.
This particular screen sits to the side of the diner building. The other screen is located out of lens, back and to the right.
The building itself is a silver-toned, saucer-like structure with geometric flourishes.
Some of the fancy charging stations were all ready to go.
During my visit to the site, I saw dozens of shiny, white, Tesla-branded charging stations starting to be installed in the diner’s paved parking lot.
Eventually, the site will be home to more than 75 V4 Supercharger stalls, Merritt said in his March update on X.
Even as Tesla takes Musk-related hits in recent weeks, Los Angeles remains an EV-friendly locale.
Musk’s EV company has felt the burn of his foray into politics, with Tesla sales plunging 13% in the first three months of 2025 — the company’s worst quarter since the first three months of 2022. Stock is down more than 36% in 2025.
Meanwhile, Tesla vehicles, dealerships, and charging stations across the country have been the sites of vandalism and protests since Trump was inaugurated.
When the diner does open, it’ll be hard to miss — whether by drivers looking for a charge or protesters who have made Tesla locations ground zero for expressing their discontent at Elon Musk’s growing political influence.
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