Al Mathes, Owner of Cafes Frequented by Stars, Dies

Al Mathes, a tough Boyle Heights street kid who became a well-known Hollywood and Beverly Hills restaurateur and gambler, has died at the age of 78.

Mathes was the partner of the late Steve Crane, one-time actor and former husband of Lana Turner, in several restaurants frequented by Hollywood celebrities.

Mathes, who had been in ill health for years, died of heart failure Aug. 31 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Restaurant Opposite Studios

Jessica Mathes said her husband and Crane opened Lucy’s Restaurant on Melrose Avenue just across from the Paramount Studios in 1946 and the place quickly became a hangout for stars such as John Garfield, Humphrey Bogart, Ava Gardner and Robert Mitchum.

They sold that restaurant in 1952 and opened the Luau, a Polynesian restaurant on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.

Mathes was an unindicted co-conspirator and key witness in the highly publicized Friars Club card-cheating conspiracy case of the 1960s. The five defendants in the case, which involved rigging high-stakes gin rummy games with celebrities and wealthy businessmen by using peek holes and electronic signals, were convicted on 49 felony counts in a six-month federal court trial in 1969.

Mathes was granted immunity from prosecution in return for his testimony in the case.

‘A Street Guy’

Jessica Mathes described her husband as “a street guy,” a former professional boxer who grew up in Boyle Heights, where he was born to immigrant parents who worked in the garment trade.

“He was tough, quiet and shy,” she said.

Mathes and Crane also operated a restaurant on Sunset Boulevard known as SCAM, a combination of the partners’ initials. Jessica Mathes said Crane and her husband sold the Luau about five years ago, and some of Rodeo Drive’s more expensive boutiques now occupy the space where the restaurant once stood.

Mathes had been in retirement since the sale of the restaurant. Crane died in February in Pauma Valley in San Diego County.