Just Like Home : Linda’s provides a comfortable setting for jazz aficionados
A lot of people say that going to Linda’s, the big, airy restaurant on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood that features top-name jazz pianists, is like going out without leaving home.
“It’s like being in my own living room,” said Gerald Wiggins, the regular Sunday night pianist. “I can play what I want and there are no hassles.”
“I feel at home here,” said Inger Jensen, a psychologist who has been to Linda’s several times. “It’s got great ambience, a casual setting that feels really comfortable.”
And well it should since owner Linda Keegan--who has had a hand in all phases of her operation, from designing the room to writing the recipes to singing with the pianists most nights--outfitted the eatery with some of the furniture from the Hollywood Hills home that she sold (to singer Sheena Easton) to open the restaurant three years ago.
Customers can sit on couches, love seats and oversized chairs or at a variety of glass and wooden coffee and dinner tables while they chat and eat, or listen to the pianists (and their bassists) who work out on the grand piano in the center of the restaurant.
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To add color, there are large bouquets of flowers on several tables and there’s always a changing art show on the walls. An exhibit of work by painter Bob Ross will be up until the end of June.
Keegan, 54, was a child actress and ballet dancer who later worked as a singer and dancer in films and nightclubs under the name Linda Carol. She opened the restaurant because “we needed to bring jazz out of the dark dungeons and into the living room, to make it comfortable for everyone and increase the audience.”
Music is central to this West Hollywood bistro. Such ace pianists as Alan Broadbent, Lou Levy, Jimmy Rowles, George Gaffney and Wiggins are regulars, and there are occasional performances from such up-and-comers as guitarist Jeff Collela (Wednesdays at 6 p.m.) and pianist Chris Dawson (Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 6 p.m.). On Saturdays, either guitarist Doug MacDonald or pianist Tom Talbert leads a small band, beginning at 1 p.m. Guest artists, including singers Sarah Vaughan, Joe Williams and Ernie Andrews, pianist Richie Beirach and hornman Jerome Richardson, sometimes sit in.
Keegan’s mainstays are frequently old friends. She worked with Wiggins “a long time ago, and then back in 1979-80, when my career was really getting back on track, I hired Wig and Tom Garvin and George Gaffney,” Keegan said. Garvin was the room’s original pianist.
Keegan says the art in the restaurant is as essential as the music. “Whenever you have a new show, the whole feeling of the room changes,” she said. “We show relatively--but not totally--unknown local artists. It helps them and, since I get a commission from sales, it helps me, too.”
There is no cover charge at Linda’s, but the room has a $7 food or drink minimum. The food could be called “home-cooked,” in that many of the dishes Keegan serves grew out of recipes that she used to feed her family. (Today, several of Keegan’s children assist her with the operation, and now and then a grandchild or two can be seen on the premises.)
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The extensive hand-written menu (done by Keegan, of course) includes such specialties as pot chicken for two, enchilada chicken pie with green tomatillo sauce, Szechwan stir-fry, the Linda Burger, ham hocks and black-eyed peas, filet mignon and fresh fish. There are a host of salads, a few pasta dishes, a handful of egg concoctions and a generous array of desserts. In addition, Linda’s serves beer and wine.
In keeping with her hands-on attitude, Keegan lives in quarters located above her restaurant office. “I had an apartment for a while, but I’d never go there, and then if I did, I’d have to make myself get back here,” she said, laughing. “This way, if I’m tired, I can pop upstairs and take a nap and then come down. It’s perfect. And late at night, I don’t have to go wandering home; I can just go to bed.”
Linda’s, 6715 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood, is open from noon to midnight seven days a week. Major credit cards and checks are accepted. For information , call (213) 934-6199.