Pie’s good too

Re “No dip in its popularity,” Oct. 7

I truly enjoyed your article on Philippe’s restaurant. It conjured up many wonderful days when I was lucky enough to be included in a threesome (piano, clarinet, cornet) that trekked from Whittier to Reseda to join forces with four friends who played drums, trombone and two other rhythm instruments. We were mesmerized by New Orleans jazz, which had become a victim of the Depression of the 1930s. So, in the late ‘40s, we became involved with musicians who wanted to bring back the work of Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver and the rest.

We had to take surface streets (there were no freeways yet), which took us through downtown Los Angeles ... you guessed it, right past Philippe’s, an established Los Angeles landmark. Naturally, that is where we stopped to eat on the way over and on the way back.

One of our numbers, Bill Mitchell, became a well-known Southern California traditional jazz piano player. So we all owe a lot to Philippe’s.

Bruce Mitchell

Oxnard