Don’t Confuse This ‘Chadneys’ With the Old ‘Chadney’s’

If you step into the new Chadneys Universal, don’t expect to see Burt Reynolds, Tommy Lee Jones or any other celebs who hung out in the famous old jazz club so convenient to studio and network offices.

Sure, you may spot Alan the TV engineer who splices together ESPN shows or Diane the former acting agent who burned out years ago.

But Chadneys Universal, a lounge in Universal City, has a long way to go before it can live up to the reputation of the old Chadney’s in Burbank, a jazz room that over the years became a watering hole for the stars.

It’s not that the new Chadneys, at 3575 Cahuenga Blvd., is a shell of its former self; it’s a completely different enterprise.

There’s no apostrophe in the name, for starters. And the new owners, an Encino couple, were not directly involved with the old Chadney’s, which was forced into involuntary bankruptcy and closed in December after the ceiling literally caved in.

As a result, the jazz music of yesteryear may soon be supplanted by a more exotic form of entertainment: belly-dancing.

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Why, then, call the new lounge Chadneys?

“The right way to start a business is to start it with some history behind it,” said Sato Haopian, who opened Chadneys Universal with her husband, George, in December. “Our intention was not to copy them [the old Chadney’s]. But right when we were about to open, we heard that Chadney’s was closing down.”

The somewhat murky story of the two Chadney(‘)s stretches back to 1974. That’s when Bill Chadney, a nimble-fingered piano player, and Bob Hoeller, a contractor, opened a steakhouse with live music at the corner of Olive and Alameda avenues. The two called the joint Chadney’s.

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During the day, Chadney’s ran a brisk lunch business, renowned for juicy steaks, soft rolls and swift, cheery service. The restaurant attracted designers from the big Lockheed office in Burbank, news folks from NBC across the street and other studio types.

At night, crowds jammed into the windowless lounge. Jazz legends and big-band greats like Harry Middlebrooks tickled pianos and blasted trumpets until the wee hours. Stars, legend has it, went in droves.

“I used to see Johnny Carson, Tom Brokaw and Bob Hope in here all the time,” said Hoeller, who bought out his partner Chadney in 1978. “And I used to watch Milton Berle stink the place up with his cee-gars. He was big on cee-gars.”

It wasn’t long before Chadney’s emerged as one of L.A.’s prime people-watching spots. David Bacarr, a receptionist at NBC, remembers sitting by the door and eyeballing actors like Burt Reynolds and Tommy Lee Jones as they strutted in wearing their newest duds.

“It was the perfect place to see what everybody was wearing,” Bacarr said. “There was super energy there.”

Chadney’s heyday probably had passed by the mid-1980s, Hoeller said, but the lounge remained a favorite among workers at NBC for years afterward. In a business where turnover is constant, Chadney’s became the place where countless office parties were held and journalists gathered to share congrats-on-the-new-job, I-wish-I were-you sentiments.

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“We used to walk across the street to say our goodbyes,” said Frank Kwan, a producer at NBC for 18 years. “You couldn’t have been at NBC for any time frame and not gone to Chadney’s.”

However loyal, NBC couldn’t support Chadney’s single-handedly, and in the early 1990s the restaurant-lounge was on the ropes, Hoeller said. Lockheed had downsized and shuffled workers to other offices. New restaurants sprouted in Burbank, thinning Chadney’s lunch crowd.

Hoeller and his family decided to sell the lounge in 1992. Daron and Betty Borian of Hollywood Hills bought the equipment in the restaurant and the right to use the Chadney’s name--at that location only--for an undisclosed amount, Hoeller said.

Chadney’s continued to book jazz bands, but the stars had moved on.

Ownership of Chadney’s changed hands again in 1998. In December, the kitchen ceiling caved in and Chadney’s closed. Robair Altounian, the most recent owner, was also hit with an involuntary bankruptcy, in which the restaurant’s creditors claim they are owed $31,162, according to court records. The case is still pending.

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Connie Trimble, president of the San Fernando Valley chapter of the California Restaurant Assn., said it’s not easy to keep up an old restaurant in Burbank.

“I think these are very tough times, because there are so many new restaurants,” Trimble said. “It’s always tougher for the ones that are a little older to hang in there.”

Enter the Haopians, the Encino couple with the penchant for belly-dancing. Sato Haopian is the sister of Altounian, the last owner of the old Chadney’s. She and her husband decided to open a restaurant and lounge with a nearly identical name.

Sato Haopian says she doesn’t think she misappropriated the old Chadney’s name because there’s no apostrophe in the new name and the word Universal has been added. Bob Hoeller doesn’t agree but said he has better things to do than sue.

“It doesn’t sound legal to me,” said Hoeller, 70. “But when you get to my age, you just don’t want to mess with situations like these.”

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The Haopians may have other challenges to face. The local office of Alcoholic Beverage Control shut down Chadneys Universal for two weeks in January because of complications over the liquor license. The lounge reopened with a temporary alcohol permit and remains under review for a permanent one, said John Weldon, an investigator for the ABC.

It’s not clear if the Haopians are the only owners of Chadneys Universal, and investigators can’t grant a permanent license until ownership is verified, Weldon said.

In the meantime, the Haopians want to reorient the theme of Chadneys from a jazz room to a belly-dancing club that serves falafel and hummus. There are only a handful of belly-dancing parlors in the city, the Haopians said. Besides, jazz just isn’t working.

On a recent Friday night, more stools at the bar stood empty than were occupied. A few guys wearing baseball caps watched the Lakers on TV as they nursed a pair of Bud long-necks. There wasn’t a celebrity in sight.

Alan Berndtson, a television engineer, sat by himself plucking at a shrimp cocktail. His eyes lit up when asked about the old Chadney’s.

“The place had a certain cachet, a certain image,” Berndtson said. “And for someone who came for the jazz, finding a seat could be a big problem.”

But that was many moons ago, Berndtson said.

“I guess the old Chadney’s crowd hasn’t found their way back,” he said.

Staff writer Karen Robinson-Jacobs contributed to this story.