tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post8655003023389760196..comments2023-11-03T06:02:02.128-07:00Comments on By Ken Levine: They've closed WHAT? By Ken Levinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17305293821975250420noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-1194022379079900762014-07-27T23:12:31.115-07:002014-07-27T23:12:31.115-07:00Loved Loves on San Vincente, Hamlet Brentwood and ...Loved Loves on San Vincente, Hamlet Brentwood and Sherman Oaks, Will Rights, Nicky Blair's,Friars on Wilshire , koo koo Aroo too , Tiny Naylors , Ships , Delores , Chasens chili .john driscoll Voice Over Americahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17182186483592263105noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-71523039061112055152014-07-27T13:17:38.946-07:002014-07-27T13:17:38.946-07:00Not just family restaurants. In the Seattle subur...Not just family restaurants. In the Seattle suburb of Bellevue, a long-standing Denny's lost its lease in favor of an overbidding ... Chick-Fil-A,<br /><br /> Lateral move?Liggienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-63959281587807575682014-07-26T03:57:19.442-07:002014-07-26T03:57:19.442-07:00My new apartment in Los Angeles is only a few bloc...My new apartment in Los Angeles is only a few blocks from the Original Tommy's at Rampart and Beverly.VP81955https://www.blogger.com/profile/11792390726196611188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-31201647917738868162014-07-25T12:13:13.434-07:002014-07-25T12:13:13.434-07:00I know a little something about the restaurant bus...I know a little something about the restaurant business (both of my children are in the food business). My son's Greenwich Village restaurant was paying monthly rent of $17,000/month. When it recently came time to renew the lease, the landlord wanted to raise it $20,000 -- not <b>to</b> $20,000, but <b>by</b> twenty grand. Needless to say, they are looking for a new location.<br /><br />By the way, the ACA had no real effect on the profitability of the restaurant -- it already provided health insurance.Floridannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-67599174273719396132014-07-25T11:51:14.237-07:002014-07-25T11:51:14.237-07:00Ah, the old 'blame Obamacare for everything!&#...Ah, the old 'blame Obamacare for everything!' trope! It's nothing to do with the Affordable Care Act and everything to do with unfettered greed and the fact that Americans are not allowed national health like the rest of the world because profits come first. Hell, ask business owners what is hurting business and nine out of ten will say a lack of customers and not 'regulation.' And that one out of ten who can't figure out how to fill out forms will invariably be a 'get off my lawn' type. We get it, starting & running a business is difficult but if you want to start spreading blame, it's clear that much of industry simply can't be trusted not to rape the environment, screw their employees, cheat the government and the like, hence, regulations that protect the consumer from these predators.mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-53833948667277023342014-07-24T22:20:31.175-07:002014-07-24T22:20:31.175-07:00No mention of Cassell's, the world's great...No mention of Cassell's, the world's greatest hamburger joint? (Yes, they're supposed to reopen <br />"soon," but that's been a two-year promise now...)cadavranoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-87392036006663745532014-07-24T17:28:34.866-07:002014-07-24T17:28:34.866-07:00Ugh. I read some of the comments.
I'm sure th...Ugh. I read some of the comments.<br /><br />I'm sure the death of family restaurants has everything to do with ObamaCare, and nothing whatsoever to do with the financial crisis... Everyone knows that restaurants boom during recessions.<br /><br />Johnny Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13302545167970532080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-59956749693645590612014-07-24T17:24:52.410-07:002014-07-24T17:24:52.410-07:00I haven't read every comment, but I hope someo...I haven't read every comment, but I hope someone pointed out that here in London we have pubs that are older than America itself. Lots of them, in fact.<br /><br />LA's fear of getting old is such a shame.Johnny Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13302545167970532080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-51503866965819316552014-07-24T11:41:10.410-07:002014-07-24T11:41:10.410-07:00I miss Naugles.I miss Naugles.chuckcdnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-31079520047785294292014-07-24T11:35:18.776-07:002014-07-24T11:35:18.776-07:00Eddie Saul's in Encino. What I would give rig...Eddie Saul's in Encino. What I would give right now for a scoop of their shrimp salad...Janicenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-81930784092133513392014-07-24T10:37:03.527-07:002014-07-24T10:37:03.527-07:00And there's still Dan Tana's. But to go t...And there's still Dan Tana's. But to go to the Brown Derby, you have to go to the DisneyWorld recreation/ And how I miss Horace Heidt's Java TIme, where I had my first ever cocktail at the age of 16.thomas tuckerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06241537308195762967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-15186921649972835132014-07-24T06:10:34.706-07:002014-07-24T06:10:34.706-07:00If you seriously think Obamacare isn't crippli...If you seriously think Obamacare isn't crippling job creation, are you sure you're Archie Bunker and not Meathead? <br /><br />MikeN is spot-on. I have a close relative who is a manager in a store that's part of a major department store chain (one of the big ones that anchors malls). She was recently called into her supervisor's office and reamed out for letting a part-time employee who needed some extra pay work over 30 hours in a week. It was made brutally clear to her that no part-timer is allowed to put in over 29 hours anymore. They didn't say why, but I think we all know. And they are just one employer among many, large and small. They have to keep it quiet because if it got out, they'd be boycotted by all the Obama supporters who have difficulty accepting reality and prefer to live in Fantasy Land. <br /><br />As for what's killing the family restaurant, it's not unregulated greed, it's over-regulation by government. I have a young in-law who used to be a happy-go-lucky liberal until he stopped being a sole contractor and launched his own business with a few employees. He's staggered by the crushing amounts of pointless paperwork, impenetrable regulations and endless fees he's expected to comply with. He now wonders how anyone can possibly start a business anymore. I give him another six weeks tops before he becomes a born-again conservative, or at the very least, a strident Libertarian. <br />Pat Reedernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-85531249766035402762014-07-24T05:21:01.056-07:002014-07-24T05:21:01.056-07:00Obamacare isn't crippling anything. Matter of ...Obamacare isn't crippling anything. Matter of fact, some cripples are no longer crippled because of Obamacare. Greed is killing the family own restaurant. Unregulated greed.Archie Bunkernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-13468149098231724342014-07-23T22:27:07.525-07:002014-07-23T22:27:07.525-07:00Thanks for the spam, Syed. Thanks for the spam, Syed. Cap'n Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11783977137812876489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-56333721749539333522014-07-23T22:14:06.394-07:002014-07-23T22:14:06.394-07:00Same thing has happened where I grew up in Florida...Same thing has happened where I grew up in Florida in Pinellas county. In the 60s I used to pedal my bike to a dead end street near my house, trundle through the woods till I got to US 19 and meet my grandma at the Kash & Karry where she worked, she'd get me a Coke out of the machine for 10 cents and then we would go have lunch at the little boxcar diner next to the store. While the building is still there the the food part is long gone and it's now a payday loan place. [The Kash & Karry, just like my grandma, has been gone a number of years also] And the barbecue joint [Smalleys] that my parents always took us kids out to once a month is gone but have no idea when they closed. I know it was still there when I went down and visited my dad in the mid 90s...although it had been enlarged a bit their decor looked just about the same. Used to be I could go out and get lost in the woods nearby for a whole day, I've heard that there is only 5 square miles of wooded "wild" land left in the county but they do have a large park system. Thank goodness for Google maps; I can at least go online and check out my old childhood stomping grounds and see how much they've changed.YEKIMIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01921751875397071034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-11797205579936116442014-07-23T21:55:33.366-07:002014-07-23T21:55:33.366-07:00Scary post.
Thank God, Pink's carries on!Scary post.<br /><br />Thank God, Pink's carries on!Keithnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-80988101551179226822014-07-23T19:07:25.042-07:002014-07-23T19:07:25.042-07:00There's still Musso & Frank on Hollywood B...There's still Musso & Frank on Hollywood Blvd., which has been around since the days of Chaplin (as have some of its waiters). The open-faced hot turkey sandwich is delicious.RCPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04251247613686669877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-4441004407494076812014-07-23T17:02:01.744-07:002014-07-23T17:02:01.744-07:00Canda, I don't know if KooKooRoo was "fra...Canda, I don't know if KooKooRoo was "franchised all over the country," but about 1999 or so, we had one in Westfield, NJ, a rather upscale railroad commuter suburb about 15 miles southwest of the Holland Tunnel. (It doubled as the Ohio town on the NBC series "Ed"; you can see Westfield's quaint downtown in the opening credits.) I liked their chicken very much and regularly patronized the place, but little over a year after it opened, it vanished without a trace. Now that I've moved to Los Angeles (I'm clearing out my Virginia apartment and will fly west for good Saturday), I hope there's a KKR somewhere; it'd be like meeting up with an old friend.VP81955https://www.blogger.com/profile/11792390726196611188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-35827394867643328172014-07-23T16:14:53.653-07:002014-07-23T16:14:53.653-07:00Well said, KenWell said, KenMike Barerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14447874605833321732noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-2214227093218883372014-07-23T15:11:24.457-07:002014-07-23T15:11:24.457-07:00KooKooRoo's top management must have screwed t...KooKooRoo's top management must have screwed this up financially, because some of the locations, like the one in Hancock Park, were always crowded.<br /><br />I noticed some changes in the looks of some of the KooKooRoo restaurants, which did nothing to enhance them, and a friend of mine said the chicken was getting smaller.<br /><br />Wish someone could give me the final reason they all closed. I thought they were going to franchise these all over the country. They had an incredible product.Candanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-3086218535068136602014-07-23T14:15:19.896-07:002014-07-23T14:15:19.896-07:00It's not only restaurants that suffer this fat...It's not only restaurants that suffer this fate. I worked for a major retail store and am out of work thanks to a greedy landlord.Shirleynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-11456037850520779672014-07-23T14:14:39.367-07:002014-07-23T14:14:39.367-07:00It's not only restaurants that suffer this fat...It's not only restaurants that suffer this fate. I worked for a major retail store and am out of work thanks to a greedy landlord.Shirleynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-12444152412578926132014-07-23T13:23:02.283-07:002014-07-23T13:23:02.283-07:00Margo GuryanMargo GuryanMargo Guryannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-69245320008837898352014-07-23T13:20:16.334-07:002014-07-23T13:20:16.334-07:00So many of our favorite restaurants have closed. ...So many of our favorite restaurants have closed. The Mandarin in BH, Muse on Bev. Blvd., Em (where Corky held forth and occasionally played) and now Kate's (where we dined every Wednesday night for years and years). <br /><br />It's awful...trying to find another place where the food is good and you meet lots of friends (not to mention the wait-people who become friends).Margo Guryannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-30888871696265197642014-07-23T13:08:47.856-07:002014-07-23T13:08:47.856-07:00There was a Shari's two miles up the road. Eve...There was a Shari's two miles up the road. Every Friday my wife took her mother there for dinner. It closed because the rent went up too high. My wife and her mother took their trade to another Shari's further away. After six months their rent went up and they closed. <br /><br />A Skipper's near the first Shari's closed and remained vacant for at least ten years because of jacked up rent. Finally, a family dentist took over the space. I can't believe it benefited the property owner to let the place lie vacant for so long.Cap'n Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11783977137812876489noreply@blogger.com