Republican Repasts, Democratic Dinners : Where the Local Politicians Eat

You want to schmooze with politicians in this town? You better like bacon--or at least bagels and cream cheese.

You want to drink with politicians in this town? You better like orange juice.

Because hanging out with the pols in Los Angeles means doing a lot of breakfasts. And we’re not just talking a lot in a week, we’re talking a whole bunch in one day.

“You have to do business over breakfast in L.A. because people are too busy to do lunch,” says Los Angeles City Atty. James K. Hahn.

He was having his second breakfast of the day--blueberry muffins--at the Pacific Dining Car on Sixth Street near downtown Los Angeles.

Beside him was his deputy, John Emerson, the man who directed Gary Hart’s big win in the California primary in 1984.

Several tables away was Mike Gage, former assemblyman and current top deputy to Mayor Bradley.

The mayor, of course, almost never has breakfast with fewer than 50 people. It goes with the office.

Across the table from Gage was Robin Kramer, chief aide to Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alatorre.

And everybody kept expecting “to see Joe come in,” as one of them put it.

Joseph Cerrell, the dean of Southern California political consultants, does business reguarly at the Dining Car.

But was the gang all there?

Not by a long shot.

At that moment, Councilman and likely mayoral candidate Zev Yaroslavsky was headed for his early-morning haunt, Nibbler’s coffee shop on Wilshire Boulevard near La Cienega.

“I come here because it is near my home in the Fairfax District and it is close to Beverly Hills and pretty convenient for just about anybody,” said Yaroslavsky one morning as he stabbed a spoon into a pink grapefruit.

Top Democratic adviser Mickey Kantor likes the Bel Air Summit, just off the San Diego Freeway at Sunset.

It’s where the Valley meets the West Side. And it used to be discreet, but no more, says Emerson, who quit going there after it became popular with pols from all over.

AFL-CIO power broker Jim Wood can often be found at Cafe Chapeau in Larchmont.

Controller Gray Davis likes to breakfast at the Polo Lounge.

And Assemblyman Richard Katz does business at Art’s Deli in Studio City.

J.J. Kaplan, a top aide to state Sen. David Roberti, thinks he has found the best hideaway yet to do political business: Gorky’s on Eighth Street in downtown Los Angeles.

“You think any politician would be caught dead in this place?” asks Kaplan. “Look at the walls--all the posters are in Russian!”

Actually, political operative Kathy Moret once had a meeting at Gorky’s with Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner.

But these are all Democrats? Don’t Republican pols eat and do business?

“They probably do, but I don’t know about it,” said Bruce Herschensohn, who ran for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination in 1986 and will probably run again in 1992. He was having his usual lunch at Musso and Frank Grill in Hollywood--Welsh rarebit and crisp bacon.

“Republicans don’t feel the need to hang out in groups the way Democrats do,” said Herschensohn, who is also a commentator on KABC-TV and KABC radio. “It’s the difference between the two. Republicans are independent sorts. Ever notice they never march or protest?”

But in fact they do occasionally talk business over lunch at the Regency Club atop David Murdock’s building in Westwood.

Often seen there are such GOP luminaries as Reagan confidante Armand Deutsch, former Lt. Gov. Mike Curb, Roy Ash, former head of the federal Office of Management and Budget and, when he’s in town, Craig Fuller, chief of staff to Vice President George Bush.

“I think a lot of the people who back major Republican candidates go to private clubs,” said Kip Hagopian, a Brentwood venture capitalist who was a close adviser to 1986 GOP Senate candidate Ed Zschau.

“In that regard, the three most powerful private clubs are the Regency, the California Club and the Los Angeles Country Club,” said Hagopian.

Needless to say, we have no idea what the pols discuss at any of them. You don’t exactly walk in off the street.

Also popular with pols for lunch is the Grill in Beverly Hills, a favorite haunt of U.S. Senators Alan Cranston (Democrat) and Pete Wilson (Republican) and Assembly Speaker Willie Brown.

California Democratic chairman Peter D. Kelly has a permanent table at Harry’s Bar in Century City.

On Saturday mornings, longtime Democratic thinker and philanthropist Stanley K. Sheinbaum simply picks out a table on the patio at the Brentwood Mart on San Vicente.

Among those joining him from time to time are Nathan Gardels, publisher of New Perspectives Quarterly; economist Derek Shearer and his wife Ruth Goldway, former mayor of Santa Monica.

In West Hollywood, a lot of political business is done at Trump’s on Melrose, where longtime Democratic contributor Bruce Corwin can be found when he’s not holding court in the restaurant at the L’Ermitage Hotel on Burton Way.

Democratic activist and fund raiser David Mixner can put together an event at Trumps or at Morton’s across the street with 10 phone calls.

Coming east, Cerrell and former Gov. Edmund G. (Pat) Brown Sr. like to lunch at Marino on Melrose at Wilcox.

And Assemblyman Mike Roos and Councilman Mike Woo go to L.A. Nicola on Sunset in Hollywood, a place that is also popular with a lot of the unsung but indispensable operatives who make campaigns succeed or fail.

Downtown for lunch it’s El Paseo and La Golondrina on Olvera Street, Vickman’s on Eighth Street and Irwin’s on Spring.

Kathleen Brown, sister of Jerry and a possible candidate for state treasurer in 1990, was feted recently in Irwin’s “Caucus Room,” which is reserved for big meetings.

Only one catch to that room: As you eat you have to stare up at the photographs of Los Angeles council members and supervisors, which line the walls.

Out front you can simply watch the sidewalk traffic.

You want to do a political deal over dinner in Los Angeles? Well, if the point is to bump into other pols there aren’t many choices.

At the beach, three dinnertime favorites of the pols are 72 Market Street, the West Beach Cafe and Ivy at the Shore. 72 Market Street owner Tony Bill likes to throw fund raisers for Democrats in his place and did one recently for presidential candidate Michael S. Dukakis and another for U. S. Senate candidate Leo McCarthy.

In Beverly Hills, there’s Jimmy’s and Chasen’s and on Wilshire there’s Perino’s, once Richard Nixon’s favorite spot and still the site of Republican and Democratic get-togethers.

In Hollywood, there’s Lucy’s El Adobe on Melrose. It was there that Jerry Brown hatched his plan to win the governorship in 1974.

He still drops by occasionally, but you’re more likely to find Democrats and Republicans from the East Coast who stop by to argue with Frank Casado or his wife, Lucy. The liberals argue with Frank and the conservatives argue with Lucy.

San Fernando Valley pols like to go to La Serre on Ventura Boulevard for dinner business.

And going to Mateo’s in Westwood for Sunday-night dinner is a tradition with a number of West Side Democrats.

In East Los Angeles, a popular dinner spot is Tamayo, where Sen. Edward M. Kennedy has been known to schmooze when he is in town. Councilman Alatorre is there regularly.

But, otherwise, says Emerson, “there isn’t much political business in restaurants because there are too many functions to go to. At night, politics in L.A. is function-driven.”

And sometimes this leads to minor rebellions.

“I’ve been at political dinners at the Century Plaza Hotel,” says Hahn, “and when I see the rubber chicken coming, I slip out the back door and head for Harry’s Bar.”

“Yeah,” said Emerson, thinking of veal piccata and a glass of Orvieto, “sometimes you owe it to yourself.”