The Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters, a local group that honors veterans in the field of TV and radio, yesterday threw a nice luncheon in honor of a nice man named Robert Wagner. The word "classy" was uttered a lot and so was the word "mensch," and none of the speakers — who included Loretta Swit, Norm Crosby, Mike Connors, Bud Yorkin and James Bacon — had anything but praise for Mr. Wagner as an actor or a human being. (Those two categories are not always mutually exclusive but sometimes they are.) I think the worst thing that was said about "R.J." all afternoon was that he'd slept with an awful lot of beautiful women. One would assume he's deeply ashamed of that.
I don't have a lot to report about the event. For me, the most interesting thing was that it was not held at the Sportsmen's Lodge in Studio City, scene of all recent P.P.B. luncheons. For those of you outside L.A., the Sportsmen's Lodge is this huge complex of a hotel, a restaurant or two and a sprawling banquet facility located on prime real estate on Ventura Boulevard. Until recently, it was the venue for an infinite number of meetings, weddings, receptions, luncheons, parties, etc., not so much because it was good but because it was there. If you had to book an event for a large gathering of people, you'd be hard-pressed to not wind up at the Sportsmen's Lodge. I know people who loathed the place but wound up using it because the alternatives were inconveniently located and even more expensive. The management often functioned as if they knew they had you by the [fill in euphemism of your choice for "testicles"] and you couldn't go elsewhere.
Well, now you have to. The Sportsmen's Lodge has been closed by its new owners for some sort of renovation of indeterminate length or breadth. I'm kinda surprised…not that it didn't need a makeover but that they're doing it. If I were in their position — and this may explain why I'll never be a real estate mogul — I wouldn't close the place down for a second; not when the main thing it has always had going for it is that customers don't know where else to have their Bar Mitzvah receptions. The Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters were forced to find a new place and they did — a very nice restaurant high on a hill overlooking Burbank.
Okay, so it wasn't quite as perfectly situated. But the food was better, the ambiance was better, the parking was better, the service was better, the room was better, etc. Even the air up on the top of that mountain was better than what you breathe around the corner of Coldwater and Ventura. Everyone seemed so happy with the new location, I doubt they'll ever return to the Sportsmen's Lodge, no matter what is done to it. Which is fine with me.