What’s in a Number?
The telephones in Beverly Hills might be switching to the new 310 area code, but the newspaper that chronicles the local good life is staying firmly in 213.
The 50,000-circulation weekly Beverly Hills 213 will not change its name. “It would be like 20th Century Fox becoming 21st Century Fox,” said publisher Seth Baker. (According to Fox chairman Barry Diller, that will not happen, either.)
Baker said his first reaction to the news that Bev Hills was to be in the 310 zone was panic. But after a talk with the phone company, he saw the change was inevitable. “And they’re going to have to do it again within 10 years,” he said.
However, to play it safe, Baker has copyrighted the name “Beverly Hills 310.”
A New Chapter
The recession is starting to affect the nightclub business. The latest victim of financial hard times is Stringfellows, the $4-million, 12,500-square-foot restaurant/club on Beverly Hills’ Via Rodeo. Since it opened last December, the club has played host to the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Clint Eastwood, Tony Curtis, Sly Stallone, Gene Hackman, Jane Seymour and Mike Tyson.
Though owner Peter Stringfellow plans to keep his butterfly-engraved glass doors open, he has filed for Chapter 11 protection.
“People are walking into my club, seeing it’s crowded and wondering what the hell I’m doing going into Chapter 11,” said Stringfellow. “What happened was, my other clubs in New York and Miami were going to pay for the construction costs and due to the recession, the cash flow wasn’t strong enough.”
Stringfellow says he expects to come out of the bankruptcy filing in January.
Beverly Hills Bikers
No, they don’t serve a special Harley pizza or anything like that, but Monday night is familiarly known as Motorcycle Night at Mezzaluna in Beverly Hills.
Each Monday since the restaurant opened a year and a half ago, several dozen people at the handlebars of Harley-Davidson motorcycles have varooomed up to the otherwise quiet trattoria for dinner, drinks or a cappuccino . The roar starts about 9 p.m.
These drivers are unmistakably upscale. “We’ve had $200,000 to $400,000 worth of motorcycles parked here,” said a Mezzaluna spokesman. The men and women are generally dressed in biker chic: black leather jackets, T-shirts, jeans and cowboy boots.
What attracted them to Mezzaluna? “They like it,” said the restaurant spokesman. “We’ve always been very cordial, and we do what we can to accommodate them, which is why most people go to most places.”
