L'Opera

On our list of the best special-occasion restaurants in Los Angeles.

The ground floor of the 1906 First National Bank of Long Beach building on Pine Avenue held vaults and teller windows before owner Terry Antonelli spent two years converting it into a restaurant, opening in 1990. The main dining room holds a large mural, marble pillars and wood cabinetry, and the subterranean level houses the private La Scala and Wine Cellar rooms. It has drawn conventioneers, wedding parties and regulars splurging on an occasion for over three decades.