A few observations on the news that I meant to post yesterday, but I couldn’t remember the links:
- From the “Oh, Puu-Puu” Department: Trader Vics in Beverly Hills has closed. As reported by LA Observed (la_observed). Soon after the death of Don Ho comes news of the death of one of the original Tiki Restuarants, the Beverly Hills Trader Vics, which opened in 1951 in the Beverly Hilton. It is now a dead parrot. You can still pine for the fjords with a Mai-Tai, however, as the bartenders are relocating to a lounge inside the Hilton. We should all have a puu-puu platter in Vics honor. However, the best words about Vics were said by mark_evanier, when he wrote:
But the times I wound up [at Trader Vics] — usually because someone I needed to eat with wanted to dine within — I found the service to be smothering and the food to be largely inedible and way overpriced. I’ve had expensive meals where I could understand the pricetag and others where I felt I’d just paid $24.95 for the exact same thing the Sizzler sells for eight bucks. Put enough Teriyaki Sauce on that Malibu Chicken, have it served by an overly obsequious waiter…and you have a Trader Vic’s entree.
- From the “I Picked the Wrong Day to Quit Smoking” Department: LA Observed also reported yesterday about the father with two kids who tried to stiff the Northridge Claim Jumper last Thursday night who picked the wrong night at the wrong place to walk out on his bill. It seems he picked the night of the “Tip a Cop” fundraiser for Special Olympics… and working the restaurant that night were two dozen off-duty law enforcement types — LAPD, CHP, FBI — and City Councilman Dennis Zine, a reserve LAPD officer. The first person report, by Eric Rose, is as follows:
As I began to clean the table after a gentleman and his two kids left the restaurant, I asked the waitress if the patron had left a tip for the Special Olympics. The waitress opened the bill on the table and found that the very nice man she had been serving left the restaurant without paying his nearly $100 bill. Quickly, I notified several other LAPD officers of the incident, gave a description of the patron/suspect and we immediately searched the parking lot. We located the guest in the parking lot and immediately escorted the patron back into the Claim Jumper where he explained that he “just forgot to pay the bill” and that he hoped he would not be arrested. He promptly paid the bill, left a modest tip to the waitress and apologized profusely for leaving without paying.
- From the “But Where Will They Put The Third Shul” Department: The Ventura County Star is reporting the merger of two large Southern California Jewish institutions: Brandeis-Bardin Institute in Simi Valley CA and the University of Judaism in Bel Air, CA. BBI and UJ are merging as equals, and are forming the American Jewish University, with campuses in Simi Valley and Bel Air. The inspiration for this merger came from no one other than Judge Moriarty Wapner, oops, I mean Judge Joe Wapner. In June, Judge Joe Wapner, a Brandeis-Bardin board member, called Robert Wexler (UJ President) just as he was about to go on vacation. He said, “I have a radical idea… I think Brandeis and the University of Judaism should be together.” And the rest, they say, is history. BBI has a long history of educational retreats and jewish summer camping at their large Simi facility, and UJ operates one of two Conservative Rabbinic schools.
