As of Friday, Patricks Roadhouse was still closed.
Plates and pitchers were stacked inside.
(Theres a GoFundMe campaign to help.)
Patrick’s RoadhouseMichael Cieply
Within a hundred yards of Patricks, Tallulas, Mason and The Hungry Cat are all closed and empty.
Covid, food price inflation, rising labor costs and changing tastes have been killingrestaurants, high and low.
Sweet Lady Jane on Montana Ave. abruptly closed, but re-opened under new owners.
Marmalade, after 17 years, left Montana for a less toney neighborhood.
Kalaveras on Wilshire Blvd.
seems to have lasted for about a year; but they were painting over the storefront mural this week.
Restaurant mortality, of course, is nothing new.
Its a funny word, schmooze.
No other word, he avers, conveys heart-to-heart chit-chat as warmly.
Make no mistake, it is a Jewish thing, brought here fromshtetlsthat no longer exist.
Ill have to check.
And it isnt as simple as it sounds.
For starters, schmoozing is tactile.
More importantly, schmoozing is not transactional.
It is, as Rosten wrote, friendly, gossipy talk, meant to form bonds but not commitments.
The top-line schmoozers from Castle Rock mentioned afternoon tee-time appointments with Dr. Green.
Yeah, there was industry chatter.
Inevitably, someone would ask: Have you seen anything you like?
And sometimes you shared minor confidences.
I cant read the trades, Mike White once confessed.
Because they give me inanition, he said.
Reading about the success (often inflated) of other writers made it hard for him to work.
Sure, but it was best not to push it; anything you said was bound to get around.
A music industry lawyer stopped by the table for a friendly hello.
Somehow, David Geffen was mentioned.
At my hotel the next morning, I had an ice-cold call from Geffen.
You areneverto speak my name in the presence of Irving Azoff, he said.
But ImmeetingJim Wiatt, I wailed.
I guess I didnt look like a client.
Ned Tanen and Arnold Schwarzenegger used to show up there.
So did Lucille Ball and Johnny Carson, or so they say.
The best schmoozer I ever met is the producer Larry Mark.
The funniest was Ray Stark, in an old man sort of way.
Ray especially liked the Hamburger Hamlet on Sunset Blvd.
(gone, of course).
My God, shes gorgeous, he kept saying.
Shes gorgeous, Stark finally sighed.
But she needs a shave.
The food is good.
The prices arent bad.
And its named for Ray Starks mother-in-law, Fanny Brice.
But not on Tuesdays.
Because the schmooze circuit is tighter than it used to be.
On Tuesdays, theyre closed.
