nick f2007
Looking up La Cienega Blvd, "Restaurant Row," at Wilshire, 1973
At left, Lawry's The Prime Rib (now The Stinking Rose restaurant). Middle, Stear's for Steaks (now Lawry's current (and original 1938) location. Closer in, Benihana of Tokyo (still there) and at right, the 1957 Googie favorite Tiny Naylor's coffee shop, from the Armet and Davis architecture firm, which from the end of the seventies and beyond has housed a succession of eateries. It is now something called The Phoenix, and thankfully the signature roof is unchanged. In the smaller and simpler Los Angeles of the 1940s through the early 1970s there actually was one street that served as a hub of many of the city's most esteemed restaurants, and it was this boulevard between Wilshire and , say, Melrose Avenue. (North from Melrose to Santa Monica was Gallery Row, a locus of contemporary art.)
La Cienega's eateries ranged from Lawry's and Stear's and McHenry's Tail of the Cock to Fairchild's, Ollie Hammond's, Richlor's, and Smith Brothers Fish Shanty (this is indeed going back a bit). There is still a Restaurant Row on La Cienega (Lawry's endures amid those that come and go) but in recent decades the dining scene, spread out all over the map, is much more diverse, diffuse, and differentiated. . The fortunes of taste, fashion, celebrity buzz --and certainly economics--change quickly. Your new Zagat guide may be outdated by the time you pick it up. On this Sunday morning in 1973 there was very little traffic, and the day was clear enough to see all the way up to the high-rises of West Hollywood and the hills beyond.
Looking up La Cienega Blvd, "Restaurant Row," at Wilshire, 1973
At left, Lawry's The Prime Rib (now The Stinking Rose restaurant). Middle, Stear's for Steaks (now Lawry's current (and original 1938) location. Closer in, Benihana of Tokyo (still there) and at right, the 1957 Googie favorite Tiny Naylor's coffee shop, from the Armet and Davis architecture firm, which from the end of the seventies and beyond has housed a succession of eateries. It is now something called The Phoenix, and thankfully the signature roof is unchanged. In the smaller and simpler Los Angeles of the 1940s through the early 1970s there actually was one street that served as a hub of many of the city's most esteemed restaurants, and it was this boulevard between Wilshire and , say, Melrose Avenue. (North from Melrose to Santa Monica was Gallery Row, a locus of contemporary art.)
La Cienega's eateries ranged from Lawry's and Stear's and McHenry's Tail of the Cock to Fairchild's, Ollie Hammond's, Richlor's, and Smith Brothers Fish Shanty (this is indeed going back a bit). There is still a Restaurant Row on La Cienega (Lawry's endures amid those that come and go) but in recent decades the dining scene, spread out all over the map, is much more diverse, diffuse, and differentiated. . The fortunes of taste, fashion, celebrity buzz --and certainly economics--change quickly. Your new Zagat guide may be outdated by the time you pick it up. On this Sunday morning in 1973 there was very little traffic, and the day was clear enough to see all the way up to the high-rises of West Hollywood and the hills beyond.