Michael Cieply: Hollywood Can Still Schmooze, But Not At Patrick’s Roadhouse
deadline.comAs of Friday, Patrick’s Roadhouse was still closed. Plates and pitchers were stacked inside. The old-style coffee maker seemed ready to go, and there were even some bright green lights shining along the roof.
But the place looked like a radioactive version of the Spanish Kitchen, frozen in time, plus dinosaurs, leprechauns and the Statue of Liberty on top.
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. (There’s a GoFundMe campaign to help.) Maybe it’s just part of the general Restaurant Apocalypse.
Within a hundred yards of Patrick’s, Tallula’s, Mason and The Hungry Cat are all closed and empty. Covid, food price inflation, rising labor costs and changing tastes have been killing restaurants, high and low.
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