Another list of things long gone - Part III

While the chain still exists, the Coco's on Ocean Park Boulevard at Centinela is gone.  So is the one in the Manhattan Village Mall, although at least that location is now a Chili's.  The SM location was still a vacant building last time I drove by.  I went to Coco's often for lunch and dinner while working in Santa Monica, and to the one in Manhattan Beach for breakfast or lunch on weekends.  Both featured decently priced food and adequate service.  The pies were pretty good.

The Desserterie was in Beverly Hills for a brief period in the late 1970s.  It was noted for the fact that every item on the menu was calorie conscious and if you were following the Weight Watchers program, the program's food measurements were spelled out for every menu item.  My father was doing Weight Watchers for awhile and as a result we ate dinner there often.  I also had a brief interlude where I worked as a busboy and server there.

Kenny's Deli was at the corner of Bundy and Wilshire.  I didn't go there regularly, but I did stop in on occasion.  The food was okay but I remember the service being bad.  That was why I didn't go more often.

Delores was the quintessential coffee shop, on Santa Monica Boulevard near the 405 freeway.  Open late, great burgers and fries and you didn't mind the wait.  Sadly it's been reimagined and what's there now is apparently a nightmare in comparison.

Not far from there, on Wilshire near Barrington there was a place called "Diamond Jim's".  It was a favorite of this guy my mother dated in the mid 1970s.  I remember the prime rib as being excellent and loved the fact you could substitute a side order of spaghetti for the baked potato.

There was an Italian place on Pico to the East of Centinela that I think was named Bojay's.  It was small and parking sucked.  But my ex and I liked the food there.

It's not the same as Duke's Malibu but at least it wasn't torn down.  I'm referring to one of my family's favorite places for special occasion dining, the Malibu Sea Lion.  There were real sea lions, frolicking in a pool in the parking lot.  You could get a table right up against a window with the ocean's waters just feet away.  The seafood, the swordfish in particular, was exceptional.  Only distance and price kept it from being a more frequent dining destination.

I remember two very special dinners at the Velvet Turtle that is now an apartment building on Sawtelle, between Olympic and Pico.  One was the night of my sister's graduation from high school and the other was the night of my brother's graduation from the same high school five years later.  What made those two meals unique is that the three of us dined with mom and dad at the same time, an extremely rare occurrence.  The place had great prime rib.

I only ate once at what is now a strip club.  Before it became Fantasy Island, it was known as Kelbo's and it was on Pico to the West of Sawtelle.  Only the decor was Hawaiian, along with the slice of pineapple on the plate.

The Dadeland Mall was the largest shopping center in Dade County when I was stationed there.  There were plenty of other places, closer to Homestead Air Force Base to get a pizza.  But if I had a craving for good pizza, I'd go to Cozzoli's in that mall.  Always good.  Right up until July of 1979, when I was enjoying some pizza there and three people were murdered by machine-gun in the mall's liquor store.  Fortunately I departed for Guam a few weeks later and didn't have to decide if pizza was worth risking my life to return there.

Speaking of the ex, one of the places she loved to go to for dinner was in Manhattan Beach called Orville and Wilbur's.  It was in a shopping center at Rosecrans and Vista Del Mar.  It was a split level building, basement was quiet and upstairs dining room had a wonderful view.  Food was decent and the service was always good.  I heard it's a parking lot now but don't know for sure if that's true.  Will drive by next time I'm in the area.

Tiny Naylor's was a chain of restaurants.  I liked the one at Sunset and La Brea.  Roller-skating carhop, a burger, fries and a malt and I felt like I was transported back in time.  Or into an episode of "Happy Days".

Last stop in this installment will be at Bob Burns.  It was at the corner of 2nd Street and Wilshire, and shared a parking lot with the J.C. Penney's on the other side of the alley.  It was expensive and excellent.  The expensive is why it wasn't somewhere I went a lot, but it was always very good.