Senior agents have demanded that junior agents switch tables with them, even after the junior’s lunch has been served. But the behind-the-scenes types are intense about who sits where. The small, tightly packed square room makes table-hopping difficult, which suits Hollywood players, who have perfected the silent nod of recognition.Ĭelebrities typically want a table outside on the patio and rarely care which one, says Sharyn Kervyn, the restaurant’s general manager. The dining room is jammed with regulars who want the back corner tables with an easy sightline to the front desk so they can note arrivals, where they sit and decide whether they should make a point of stopping by on the way out. The Barney Greengrass crowd is younger and hipper than the Grill’s, with more women and celebrities such as Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Aniston and Nicole Kidman. Fewer restaurants, and fewer power tables, remain in the game. Fewer people can get away with 20% tips,” says entertainment attorney Ken Ziffren. “Fewer people have the big expense accounts. Corporate consolidation and the tightening economy have left more entertainment industry power in fewer hands. They are all crowded together at a handful of restaurants where the midday meal has become a cutthroat game of musical chairs. “Everyone is scared” they will fall behind, he adds.įinding the town’s power players at lunchtime is easy. “Everyone pushes hard,” says talent manager Bernie Brillstein, noting that lunch now is a business meeting, never social. At this moment, every nominee is a winner, and they all want to exploit that little bit of extra wattage. The regular battery of money men - and they are almost all men - are even more eager to flaunt their clients and their power to get things done. Nominees like Caine are in town, eager to see and be seen. And never is it more intense than in these final days before the Academy Awards. On any given weekday, the Hollywood lunch is a fraught affair, where the industry’s most powerful scramble for the right seat in the right place, and, once they get it, adhere to a specific code of behavior. It was a subtle performance, on par with the one that earned him an Oscar nomination for best actor in “The Quiet American.” And its message was clear: Remember me when you vote. Also, the story mistakenly said the restaurant, Ma Maison, had been on La Cienega Boulevard it was on Melrose Avenue. From the left are Jeffrey Katzenberg, then Barry Diller and David Geffen not Geffen, Diller, then Katzenberg. Hollywood lunch - In the March 19 Food section, the caption accompanying an illustration incorrectly identified two of the figures shown. Los Angeles Times Wednesday MaHome Edition Food Part F Features Desk 1 inches 58 words Type of Material: Correction The same article also mistakenly said the restaurant, Ma Maison, had been on La Cienega Boulevard it was on Melrose Avenue. From the left are Jeffrey Katzenberg, Barry Diller and David Geffen not Geffen, Diller, Katzenberg. Hollywood lunch - The caption accompanying the illustration with “The Hollywood Lunch” article in Wednesday’s Food section incorrectly identified two of the figures shown. Los Angeles Times Friday MaHome Edition Main News Part A National Desk 1 inches 60 words Type of Material: Correction
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