The Nautical-Themed Sandwich Shop Steven Spielberg Used To Own In LA

In the mid-1990s, director Steven Spielberg — famous for films like "E.T." and "Jaws" — teamed up with former Disney chairman and then Universal Animation Studios president Jeffrey Katzenberg to launch a submarine-themed sandwich shop in Los Angeles called Dive!. The eatery, which opened in 1994, was located in the Century City Shopping Center and designed to resemble a yellow submarine. Complete with mock portholes, pipes, and a periscope, it quickly became another famous Hollywood restaurant.

Spielberg, with his fascination for all things related to the sea, aimed to create a place where patrons could enjoy quality submarine sandwiches in a fun, fully-themed setting. The restaurant was part of a wave of themed dining experiences popular at the time, such as the Hard Rock Cafe and Planet Hollywood.

Dive! was conceived as an immersive dining experience, the kind of restaurant concept that would likely go viral on TikTok today. The exterior featured a large yellow submarine conning tower (the raised platform found on a submarine) and nose jutting out from the building. Inside, the decor was nautical-themed, with metal walkways, exposed pipes, pressure gauges, and video screens displaying underwater scenes. A working periscope offered views of the nearby Santa Monica Boulevard. Model ships and submarines hung from the ceiling, enhancing the theme. Every 45 minutes, the restaurant simulated a submarine dive, complete with flashing lights, rising pressure gauges, the sounds of metal shifting to mimic submersion, and water bubbling in the portholes.

The menu at Dive! centered around submarine sandwiches to tie in with the restaurant's theme, and offered a range of options at affordable prices. Submarine sandwich choices included classics like meatball, cheesesteak, tuna salad, and chicken salad, along with creative options such as soft-shell crab. The menu also featured regular salads, main dishes like roast chicken and ribs, appetizers like French onion soup, pizzas, pastas, and desserts. Specialty creations were available for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The full bar even featured bar stools shaped like torpedoes.

Celebrities such as Tom Hanks and the Olsen twins were reportedly spotted dining at Dive!. To attract more customers and vacationers, a second Dive! location opened in Las Vegas in 1995. The Las Vegas site featured a larger bar area with video screens tailored to Sin City's gaming patrons. There were plans to expand Dive! to other cities, including New York, Chicago, Miami, Washington, London, and Tokyo, but these never materialized. A third location reportedly opened in Barcelona in 1996, although details about its design, menu, and closure remain scarce. Sadly, both the Los Angeles and Las Vegas locations closed in 1999.