Old L.A fav's that have closed...

[monkeymay]

The thread on dive bars prompted me to think of old LA haunts that have disappeared.

Topping my list would be Nickodells, the old steak house on Melrose next to Paramount.

Good steaks, tableside service for Caesar salad complete with coddled egg, great martinis and you could eat in the bar area in comfy booths while viewing the 3 big gorgeous naked lady paintings that hung over the bar - affectionately known as 'breakfast, lunch and dinner'. Plus there were telephones next to each table with a direct line to the switchboard at Paramount just in case you needed to make that important phone call to your agent.

South Town - a 24hr. soul food restaurant on Wilcox and Sunset, around the corner from

Club Lingerie, which was then a black club called Soul'd Out at the time. South Town had catfish ordered to size, great cornbread, red beans and rice, and steak n'eggs with grits any time of the day. They also had the best jukebox in town (the original Fatburger on La Cienega notwithstanding) and a girl who would take your picture with an old box Polaroid and place it in a souvenir frame as a memento of your meal. The place was always swinging.

YeeMeeLoo's in Chinatown - terrible MSG laden food, but an incredible carved wood bar,

lethal tropical drinks and a juke devoted to Sinatra. A very LA Confidential/Wambaugh type hangout.

Other places I remember as kid and wished I could go back-

Brown Derby

Perinos

Scandia

Maybe none of them were great by major food standards, but they had an emotional resonance that I don't find very much anymore. There's few good haunts (outside of Mussos) left in the City of Angels, just a lot of minimalls.

Anyone else?

[hollywood]

They had cigarette girls and photo takers at the old Jack's on the Beach when it was on the Ocean Park Pier in Santa Monica. Before POP totally burned down.

Speaking of the bar at YeeMeeLoo, it presently can be found alive and well at Cinnabar in Glendale.

Scandia, when Hansen owned it, had really good food.

[monkeymay]

Never went to Jack's although we used to go to POP as kids for studio picnics...

I had heard that YeeMeeLoo's bar had found a home, but didn't know it was Cinnabar - have you gone there?

Did you grow up here? What do you miss?

My folks grew up in Hollywood and ran all over this town - jazz clubs, bars and restaurants - during college my Dad was a bouncer and parked cars at Ciro's niteclub on the Strip.He used to tell some pretty wild stories. According to him, things back then were really jumping. So what's left?

[hollywood]

Never went to Jack's although we used to go to POP as kids for studio picnics...

I had heard that YeeMeeLoo's bar had found a home, but didn't know it was Cinnabar - have you gone there?

Did you grow up here? What do you miss?

My folks grew up in Hollywood  and ran all over this town - jazz clubs, bars and restaurants -  during college my Dad was a bouncer and parked cars at Ciro's niteclub on the Strip.He used to tell some pretty wild stories. According to him, things back then were really jumping. So what's left?

Cinnabar is good. It's the result of the split of the Simons--one doing Bistro 45 in Pasadena and the other this place in Glendale. It's a Japanese French fusion a la their former joint project, Cafe Jacoulet.

As for me, grew up in Texas. What's left? I don't know, Musso? All I know is what I gathered from reading Raymond Chandler. I did eat at the Brown Derby on Wilshire once and at the old one on Vine once. Cobb Salad was good, after all Walter Cobb invented it.

[hollywood]

There was a place--on Santa Monica, I think--called the Studio Grill that had red leather booths with a phone jack in each booth. Then you could ask the waiter and he'd ceremoniously bring you a phone to plug in so you could call somebody. I guess that's what big shots did before cell phones.

[monkeymay]

 Cobb Salad was good, after all Walter Cobb invented it.

You see the episode of "Curb your Enthusiasm" regarding the origins of the Cobb?

[monkeymay]

There was a place--on Santa Monica, I think--called the Studio Grill that had red leather booths with a phone jack in each booth.  Then you could ask the waiter and he'd ceremoniously bring you a phone to plug in so you could call somebody.  I guess that's what big shots did before cell phones.

I remember the Studio Grill - it's been gone a long time. Hubby was one of the people who helped remodel it into something else, also long gone...

They used to (maybe still do) phone service poolside at the Polo Lounge at the B.H. Hotel. I remember sitting with some tacky tv director at a cabana while he made his calls with a phone that had been brought to him with great flourish.They also still had the whole paging thing going on. Truly the life before cell phones.

[hollywood]

 Cobb Salad was good, after all Walter Cobb invented it.

You see the episode of "Curb your Enthusiasm" regarding the origins of the Cobb?

I haven't seen that one, but Larry David is pretty zany.

[monkeymay]

It should be renamed "My Favorite Misanthrope".

[hollywood]

It should be renamed "My Favorite Misanthrope".

Well, men are from Mars.

[monkeymay]

Clever puss.

[hollywood]

There was a place--on Santa Monica, I think--called the Studio Grill that had red leather booths with a phone jack in each booth.  Then you could ask the waiter and he'd ceremoniously bring you a phone to plug in so you could call somebody.  I guess that's what big shots did before cell phones.

I remember the Studio Grill - it's been gone a long time. Hubby was one of the people who helped remodel it into something else, also long gone...

They used to (maybe still do) phone service poolside at the Polo Lounge at the B.H. Hotel. I remember sitting with some tacky tv director at a cabana while he made his calls with a phone that had been brought to him with great flourish.They also still had the whole paging thing going on. Truly the life before cell phones.

I remember those old ads in which the Bell Boy would walk purposefully thru a lobby (set) shouting "Call for Phillip Morris!"

[wingding]

I've only been the occasional visitor,but miss Tiny Naylor's,and hope that DuPar,in Burbank ,is still there...

[hollywood]

I've only been the occasional visitor,but miss Tiny Naylor's,and hope that DuPar,in Burbank ,is still there...

There's a DuPar's in Studio City. Don't know about one in Burbank. The best one is at Farmer's Market in West Hollywood.

[awbrig]

Hey, what ever happened to Mezzaluna?!?

[monkeymay]

Hey, what ever happened to Mezzaluna?!?

Home of Nicole Simpson's last supper? It turned into something called Fuzios when last I heard. Don't know if it's changed or not.

The noteriety caused by bad things happening in/or near your restaurant works I think only for a little bit. I live near Vitello's, the restaurant where Bobby Blake alledgedly shot his wife on a nearby side street. You couldn't get close to the place, it was so packed with the same morbid curiosity seekers that flocked to Mezzaluna in droves.

I'd heard it's finally quieted down a bit, although I'm sure when Blake goes to trial, things wiil probably pick up again.

[monkeymay]

I've only been the occasional visitor,but miss Tiny Naylor's,and hope that DuPar,in Burbank ,is still there...

There's a DuPar's in Studio City. Don't know about one in Burbank. The best one is at Farmer's Market in West Hollywood.

The DuPar's in Studio City is where David Lynch would hang out when he was writing Twin Peaks... all that coffee and pie ...

Tiny Naylor's was the last great drive-in /Googie style coffeeshop in Hollywood. It was on the corner of Sunset and La Brea, which now houses one of the ugliest malls around (save for the one in front of the old Hollywood Cemetery).

I'm having real issues with the Farmer's Mrkt. on Third and Fairfax. Nightmare parking, mediocre rennovations and that monstrous behemoth of ANOTHER MALL (really, how many fucking Gap and Banana Republic stores do we need in this town ! the Beverly Center 3 miles down too far for your SUV to drive?) have made going there tedious and painful at times

Fortunately, the places I shop - Huntington Meats and my poultry guy are still there.

(Lopez Farms has sadly departed). I still love going to the Gumbo Pot and chat with my friend Clay who makes me chicory coffee and fresh beignets. There's a picture of my daughter as a baby and I hanging on the wall at Kokomo's after all these years (she's 16 now). I always go by just to make sure it's still up.

[hollywood]

I still love going to the Gumbo Pot and chat with my friend Clay who makes me chicory coffee and fresh beignets.  There's a  picture of my daughter as a baby and I  hanging on the wall at Kokomo's after all these years (she's 16 now). I always go by just to make sure it's still up. 

Is the guy with the blue beard still working there?

[monkeymay]

I still love going to the Gumbo Pot and chat with my friend Clay who makes me chicory coffee and fresh beignets.  There's a  picture of my daughter as a baby and I  hanging on the wall at Kokomo's after all these years (she's 16 now). I always go by just to make sure it's still up.  

Is the guy with the blue beard still working there?

I haven't seen him in a while.

My friend's the big black guy with the gold tooth.

[hollywood]

Speaking of the Farmer's Market, what happened to the croque monsieur place across from Gumbo Pot? I liked their fries and sandwiches.

[monkeymay]

Dunno. What's happened to all of it is what I say.

Had a frightening experience there the other day, tried to find parking on a crowded Sat. morning, and got into a huge altercation with some one who INSISTED that I stole his space in an already hot, overcrowded lot. It got really ugly and physically threatening. I've never had that type of situation there ever, and I blame the greedy developers who've convoluted the whole nature of the area.

Gone is all that open space, and the luxury of spending the day socializing and shopping without worrying about a parking validation. Farmer's Market was the closest thing LA had to a community, a lively, garish mix of writers, actors, musicians, weirdos and tourists that suported the entire scene. The inability of this city to tolerate or respect it's cultural and civic icons has always been LA's biggest folly. The grace and charm of the original structure has been destroyed, surrounded with ugly buildings, and a frentic enviornment created where there once was a center of calm. The fact that corporate chains (Starbuck's and Johnny Rockets) were allowed entrance to compete and eventually overtake local independent vendors shows the little value placed on small business. All that open land made developers nuts. Now another overly congested, poorly designed area has been created, impacted a community and for what? 'Cause I need another Banana Republic T-shirt.

Thanks for takin' care of me LA.

[hollywood]

You're right. Rick Caruso couldn't resist. He's on the Police Commission. And Park La Brea is doing that expansion thing to add to the mess. I find it's often easier (relatively speaking) to park at the Grove lot, get a free 1 hour validation at Barnes & Noble and then go to Farmer's Market. Producewise, there's more at the Hollywood Farmer's market on Sundays. Sigh.

[monkeymay]

You're right.  Rick Caruso couldn't resist.  He's on the Police Commission.  And Park La Brea is doing that expansion thing to add to the mess.  I find it's often easier (relatively speaking) to park at the Grove lot, get a free 1 hour validation at Barnes & Noble and then go to Farmer's Market.  Producewise, there's more at the Hollywood Farmer's market on Sundays.  Sigh.

Yeah, sometimes it's really hard to live here

As for the market on Ivar, you'll find me there every Sunday. I love it- people really seem to dress (or undress) to shop! Not only is the produce great, but the people watching even better.

As of Jan. 4th, you'll find me at Hollywood and Ivar all the time. The restaurant project I have been working on for over a year will finally be open.( I am still sacrificing to the kitchen gods). Called Cinespace, we will be a 200 seat restaurant with a digital movie theater, featuring independent films, documentaries, shorts and video art.

I'll keep you posted as things get closer.

[hollywood]

Yeah, sometimes it's really hard to live here

As for the market on Ivar, you'll find me there every Sunday. I love it- people really seem to dress (or undress) to shop! Not only is the produce great, but the people watching even better.

As of Jan. 4th, you'll find me at Hollywood and Ivar all the time. The restaurant project I have been working on for over a year will finally be open.( I am still sacrificing to the kitchen gods). Called Cinespace, we will be a 200 seat restaurant with a digital movie theater, featuring independent films, documentaries, shorts and video art.

I'll keep you posted as things get closer.

Sounds waycool.