Sportsmen’s Lodge to Stay in Studio City

A Sportsmen’s Lodge official said this week that the owner plans to keep the restaurant and banquet facility in Studio City for the long term.

At a meeting of the Studio City Residents Assn. earlier this week, Sportsmen’s Lodge manager Victor Wong said the restaurant has a lease to the year 2000, and an option to extend it five years.

Residents association president Tony Lucente said, “The membership responded very positively to the news. And we reaffirmed our effort to support that business in Studio City.”

The Times recently reported that Best Buy Co., an electronics chain, had expressed interest in establishing a store at the restaurant site.

Lucente said that his association will be surveying its membership for suggestions on how the restaurant could be more responsive to the community. This feedback should help the restaurant improve its business, Lucente said.

At the meeting, the association also turned its attention to traffic safety on Laurel Canyon Boulevard between Mulholland and Berry drives.

City transportation engineer Irwin Chodash explained that city agencies, in response to residents’ pleas, have put in guard rails and signs, and made drainage improvements to address the problem of frequent traffic accidents at the site, including some fatalities.