The Region : Ma Maison to Shut Down

Ma Maison Restaurant, the celebrated West Hollywood gathering place for such stars as the late Orson Welles, will shut down Thursday, but its owner promises to reopen at a new location. Located in an old house and covered patio on Melrose Avenue, Ma Maison opened 10 years ago and immediately attracted Hollywood’s brightest luminaries. “When we started the dining scene here was a desert,” owner Patrick Terrail said. “Many of the best restaurants in Los Angeles today are offshoots of Ma Maison’s. Their chefs and owners learned here. If we went another decade at this location the restaurant would have to be completely refurnished. When we started people were looking for quiet, elegant, sophisticated dining. But things change. . . . Now people are looking for restaurants that are brightly lit and gimmicky, which I don’t believe in.” Terrail said he will reopen Ma Maison in a different form in 17 months as part of a $26 million new hotel across from the Beverly Center.