Cafe Sierra is now MERiNE

For three decades, Cafe Sierra held a place here. A seafood tradition in Universal City that people returned to, again and again. Birthdays, anniversaries, the quiet milestones and the loud ones.

MERiNE carries that forward.

The name draws from Marineland of the Pacific, one of Southern California's most ambitious leisure projects, designed by architect William Pereira during his partnership with Charles Luckman. It was modernism built at the edge of the ocean. Optimistic, fluid, and unmistakably Californian. 

That same architectural thread runs through this building. Pereira shaped the original vision for this property, and MERiNE reconnects with that lineage — not as a recreation, but as a continuation. A new lens on a story that was already here.

The seafood tradition stays. The spirit of gathering stays. What changes is the frame around it: a sharper point of view, a deeper sense of place, and a commitment to evolving what this place can be.

Evolution like this needs a point of view behind it.

MERiNE is part of Anso, a group built on narrative, design, and cultural intention. We start with what's already there. We listen to the room before we change it. Its history doesn't get rewritten — it gets honored, sharpened, and given somewhere to go.

Cafe Sierra had thirty years. MERiNE is what comes next. The door is open, and we can’t wait to see you walking through.