Local News in Brief : Chatam’s Doors to Close

Carl Andersen’s Chatam, the oldest restaurant in Westwood Village, will close Oct. 30.

The 48-year-old restaurant, among a handful of family-run businesses that have survived in trendy Westwood, is known for its steady clientele of movie stars and UCLA professors and staff members. Owner Carole Andersen Travis said the restaurant has served more than 2.5 million of its “Chatam special” sandwiches--a dieter’s nightmare of turkey, ham, Swiss cheese, cole slaw and Russian dressing on rye bread.

Andersen Travis said she is closing the Weyburn Avenue restaurant to devote more time to writing at her home in Jackson, Wyo. Her father, Chatam founder and owner Carl F. C. Andersen, died four years ago.

“I have to move on,” she said. “I’d rather close it down now while all the food is still good.”