Get the latest gossip

Michael Cieply: Hollywood Can Still Schmooze, But Not At Patrick’s Roadhouse


As Patrick's Roadhouse joins the Restaurant Apocalypse, Hollywood's 'schmoozing' culture continues to fade.

Anyway, the eviction notice plastered among the stickers and shamrocks told the tale: Another stop on Hollywood’s erstwhile schmooze circuit has been gone since late April, and will stay gone unless the proprietor can come up with back rent and renegotiate the lease on a diner that’s marked the seaside end of Santa Monica Canyon since 1973. On a morning traipse around Santa Monica and Far West Los Angeles, I counted 20 recent victims, including Ingo’s, Lotus, Margo’s (trying to come back), Dagwood, the Bagelworks Café, Casa Escobar, the Pacific Dining Car (now a pet health spot), 800 Degrees Pizza, the Saviola Seafood Bar and Izzy’s (which kept promising to revive after the lockdown, but never did). My wife, while an editor for Los Angeles Magazine, put together a clever memorial called “They Also Served.” It listed dozens of fondly remembered gathering spots like Chasen’s, Jack’s at the Beach and The Broken Drum (“You Can’t Beat It.”) And new places do open, though as often as not they seem to be the kind that hand you a number, suggest a tip starting at 20 percent, and point you toward a stool where you can eat in semi-communal discomfort.

Get the Android app

Or read this on Deadline

Read more on:

Photo of Michael Cieply

Michael Cieply

Related news:

News photo

Michael Cieply: Haim Saban Roars Like A Mogul, And The Echoes Still Sound

News photo

Michael Cieply: Two Weeks Out, The Academy Museum Preps A Cautious But Correct ‘Hollywoodland’ Opening

News photo

Michael Cieply: Participant Sank When Everyone Jumped In