Steven Spielberg's Forgotten LA Sandwich Shop Was Like Eating On A Movie Set

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The late 20th century was quite a time for over-the-top themed restaurants. From a Worldwide Wrestling Federation restaurant and nightclub to the kitschy and infamous Rainforest Café, the 1990s were full of bizarre haunts, many of which barely stayed in business past the turn of the 21st century. There are a few stragglers kept afloat by mostly tourists, like Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, but one of the most memorable was Steven Spielberg's intensely aquatic themed LA restaurant from the '90s known as Dive! (yes, complete with the exclamation point). 

Opened in 1994 in the Century City mall, Dive! was inspired by Spielberg's love for underwater adventures and Jules Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea," as well as his opinion that Los Angeles lacked any acceptable submarine sandwiches (we can assure you, LA has plenty of great subs today). The 11,000 square-foot restaurant was meant to feel like diners were actually inside a large submersible. From the outside, a gigantic yellow submarine jutted out from the restaurant's exterior. Metal arches, large porthole windows, and other industrial submarine-style finishes covered the space, hoping to immerse you in a submersible world. Most disturbingly, every 45 minutes, the portholes would fill with water, lights flashed, and sirens would blare in an attempt to simulate a submarine diving into the depths of the ocean. In an already visually overstimulating environment, we can't imagine that made for a relaxing place to enjoy a sandwich. 

The menu was, frankly, all over the place. The "below see level drinks" had ocean-themed names like a Topical Torpedo and an Ocean Motion Margarita, but the nautical references on the menu ended there. The starter section of the menu featured a strange mix of options, from fried carrot chips to cold angel hair pasta to wood-oven roasted artichokes with brie cheese, none of which sound particularly coherent to the nautical-themed sandwich restaurant. With less-than-inspired sandwich names like "vegetarian sub one" and "salami sub", it appears the creativity and imagination of the atmosphere didn't quite make it to the food portion of the enterprise.

Like all good themed restaurants, there was a section dedicated to selling Dive! merchandise. A second location opened in Las Vegas, NV, an ideal place for gigantic themed restaurants in the '90s. But plans to expand globally never came to fruition. The end of both Dive! locations came in 1999 and 2000. In the end, it was difficult to remain profitable, especially because Dive! Los Angeles didn't have the influx of tourists required, and merchandise sales just weren't as good as the operators had anticipated. For those feeling nostalgic and craving an overstimulating dining experience, you're in luck, as there are still quite a few themed restaurants operating in the United States.