The other day here, I mentioned a restaurant/bar called Chadney's and a couple of folks wrote to ask some variation on "Why have I heard of that place?" There were at one point three Chadney's — one in Burbank, one in Studio City and one in Santa Monica and there was briefly one across from Universal Studios. They're all gone now.
I never went to the one in Santa Monica or the one near Universal. I went to the other two and the one you heard of was the one in Burbank. It was located across the street from the NBC Studios in that city so it was mentioned a lot on Johnny Carson's show. That Chadney's was a handy place for NBC stars and employees to dine and/or drink. Among the ones I saw there on various visits were Bob Hope, Mac Davis, Flip Wilson, Ed McMahon, most of Mr. Carson's band and various celebrities who were doing Hollywood Squares that day.
I believe both Mr. Carson and Mr. Leno did a couple of stunts there sending someone or maybe just a camera crew across the street for their respective Tonight Shows. That's a photo of the Burbank one above, obviously taken after it closed and before it got remodeled into a lively (meaning it's loud in there) restaurant called Simmzy's. It may have had another identity between when it was Chadney's and when it became Simmzy's. I have occasionally dined at Simmzy's with either people who work in the building that used to be NBC or folks who work a block or three away at DC Comics.
My recollection of when it was Chadney's was that it was a good place for a steak or seafood, a great place to see celebrities, a bad place to have to park and — apparently — a terrific place to drink. Every TV and movie studio had a terrific place more-or-less across the street where the folks at the studio could dash out for a cocktail or a better-than-the-commissary meal…and the cocktails always seemed more important than the chow.
At Paramount, there was Nickodell's. At CBS Television City, there was Kelbo's. Near CBS's Studio City lot, there was a restaurant — I don't remember the name of it — where the food was the third most important offering and the alcohol was of secondary concern. The main enticement was very attractive women — probably all aspiring actresses — bending over a lot in very short skirts.
A certain producer I did some work for who was housed on that CBS lot would not meet with me except over lunch and he would not have lunch anywhere but at this restaurant. And of course, he would not pay much attention to anything I said because the servers were too distracting. It was more than a little creepy to me.
Most of those "watering hole" places went away as production in studios and on lots declined. Chadney's Burbank went downhill in the late eighties, went through multiple owners in the nineties and closed in 1998. I can't say I miss it but it was great to be sitting there eating one of their burgers and to glance over and see Burt Reynolds or Angie Dickinson at the next table. I rarely felt like I was in Hollywood when I was in Hollywood but I often felt that way in Burbank, usually at Chadney's.