This hack provides an API to get live Popular Times data from Google Maps places. It requires a pre-recorded magic pb parameter for each place. This magic pb value can be found by viewing the place of interest in Google Maps in the browser, then looking at the parameters sent to the preview entity.
import gmapslivepopulartimes
# pre-recorded magic pb parameter
magic_pb_param = "!1m18!1s0x0:0x39acbe41c4eec73f!3m12!1m3!1d229292.2503210766!2d-97.87335716400854!3d30.331380841649835!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i920!2i799!4f13.1!4m2!3d30.323359769150866!4d-97.73918151855469!5e4!6storchy's tacos!12m3!2m2!1i392!2i106!13m57!2m2!1i203!2i100!3m2!2i4!5b1!6m6!1m2!1i86!2i86!1m2!1i408!2i200!7m42!1m3!1e1!2b0!3e3!1m3!1e2!2b1!3e2!1m3!1e2!2b0!3e3!1m3!1e3!2b0!3e3!1m3!1e4!2b0!3e3!1m3!1e8!2b0!3e3!1m3!1e3!2b1!3e2!1m3!1e9!2b1!3e2!1m3!1e10!2b0!3e3!1m3!1e10!2b1!3e2!2b1!4b1!9b0!14m5!1sflbFWaORNouQ0gKQ97-gBA!4m1!2i5357!7e81!12e3!15m17!1m1!4e2!2b1!5m4!2b1!3b1!5b1!6b1!10m1!8e3!17b1!24b1!25b1!26b1!30m1!2b1!36b1!21m28!1m6!1m2!1i0!2i0!2m2!1i458!2i799!1m6!1m2!1i870!2i0!2m2!1i920!2i799!1m6!1m2!1i0!2i0!2m2!1i920!2i20!1m6!1m2!1i0!2i779!2m2!1i920!2i799!22m1!1e81!29m0!30m1!3b1"
place = gmapslivepopulartimes.LivePop(magic_pb_param)
place = place.get_live_data()print(place.status)'Place has live popularity data'
print(place.livePop)97
print(place.historical_popular_value())84
print(place.liveDesc)'As busy as it gets'