Well, dear readers, it’s late so I must write these here notes in a hurry, but still I don’t believe I finished my restaurant ravings. So, let me just mention a few of my favorite other childhood haunts that were a little out of our neighborhood. One I forgot to mention was the local Orange Julius stand that was on the corner of Robertson and Pico next to the newspaper and magazine stand. It was located in a drug store but had a window where you could buy your stuff from the street. I always had an Orange Julius and a hot dog with mustard and onions. A favorite of my mother’s was Ontra Cafeteria – we frequented two branches – Beverly Hills, which was located on Beverly Drive one block north of Wilshire on the west side of the street – and the one in the Miracle Mile. We sometimes lunched at the Roxbury Drugstore lunch counter, which was always fun. Much later, I became a regular at many of the Hamburger Hamlets in town. My father was an investor in a Culver City restaurant that I believe was called Dutch’s, Home of the Plank Steak, so we ate there quite often. Also in Culver City, in my teen years I was a regular to Lyttle’s Coffee Shop, where we’d go after doing shows at Bluth Brothers theater. I didn’t ever eat at Ship’s coffee shop until I was in my twenties, but as a young teen I was quite enamored of Villa Frascati on La Cienega and there was a German restaurant I occasionally ate at right on the southwest corner of Santa Monica Blvd. and La Cienega. Maybe it was called the Hofbrau. Of course in Westwood we all loved The Apple Pan. Then, traveling to Hollywood my regular haunts as a very young teen were Coffee Dan’s (home of the wedge salad and the Dodger burger), Carolina Pines (another coffee shop), Diamond Jims and, of course, C.C. Brown’s. I didn’t discover Musso and Frank until around 1973, at which point I became a regular. Of course, we always went to the Farmer’s Market and partook of the various and sundried food stands there. Also in Beverly Hills, we occasionally frequented Wil Wright’s Ice Cream Parlor. I wish I could go back to any of those jernts, but alas, there’s only one Hamlet and the Farmer’s Market left – oh, and Musso and Frank.
Yesterday was an interesting day. I only got six hours of sleep, but it was one of the few days where that’s all I really needed. I got up, did stuff, had a visitor, then moseyed on over to Home on Hillhurst for a lunch meeting with the LACC Foundation folks, mostly to talk about the theater department and what our alumni association might do to get started up again. As you may remember, I did many wonderful alumni events there, bringing in casting directors, producers, directors, Jason Robert Brown, Karen Morrow and all sorts of folks. But we got little support from the department or the alums so I just got tired of working my butt cheeks off for no reason. But now that there’s new leadership I think we can begin doing these again and that will be fun. I had their yummilicious half Reuben – turkey, Swiss cheese, cole slaw and 1000-Island dressing on grilled rye bread. I had a little fruit for my side dish.
Then I picked up one little package and came home. Once home, I had several telephonic conversations to make, which took up most of the afternoon. Then I decided I wasn’t going to the evening meeting, but a couple of people really wanted me there so, in the end, I went. I don’t like long meetings (three hours) but I did say my piece, much as a couple of people didn’t want to hear it. I can’t really talk about it as it’s a closed meeting, but I thought it went reasonably well.
After that, I met Doug Haverty and we had a bite to eat – I had chicken tenders. Then I came home and had quite a few e-mails to answer. I was happy to see that after seven days the Sami Indiegogo campaign is close to 20% funded. I’m told that’s pretty good for a first week for this funding level.
Here’s another video from last week’s Kritzerland show. This one is our opening number – featuring Hadley Miller, Jaidyn Young and Sami Staitman. I’ll post a couple of others tomorrow. And all the videos from that night have been sent to – Paul Williams, who asked to see them.
Today, I will try to finish writing the commentary. I have two visitors coming – one in the morning to drop something off, and a couple of hours later, our very own Mr. Nick Redman will be stopping by.
The rest of the week is meetings and meals, then I’m not at all sure what’s happening on the weekend, other than I think I’m seeing a show or two and deciding on whether to show up at my high school reunion.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have visitors, write, eat, jog and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite dishes to cook at home? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had more restaurant ruminations.