The Rock Store is a restaurant in Cornell, on Mulholland Highway in the Santa Monica Mountains, Los Angeles, California. It is popular with motorcyclists and celebrities.
History
It is a, "humble but infamous hangout is like a church for wayward souls Whose paths to Heaven are found with throttle in hand," in the words of Zapata Espinoza writing for Mountain Bike magazine, "The gathering of the tribe at the Rock Store is unlike any other. There are... over-revving canyon racers in their full-leather regalia, celebrities riding [expensive bikes], vintage old-timers on ratty Indians, bourgeois bikers with their chaps and Nike Air-Stupids, dual-sport riders in their MX gear, freaks on V-8 powered trikes—there's even a group of two-wheeled Freemasons. It's a wonderful collection of humanity and two wheels where diversity isn't just tolerated, it's celebrated."[1]
The location originally held a hot springs resort. During the Great Depression and Prohibition, the owner was allegedly a bootlegger. The resort attracted celebrities such as Cecil B. DeMille and Rudolph Valentino, who "came up here and laid in the hot water baths, and they drank the whiskey". In the 1940s and 1950s, it was home to a gas station. The Rock Store opened in 1961 as a grocery store, later becoming a common motorcycle pit stop.[2]