On New Year's Day, the Sportsmen's Lodge and its collection of well- known eateries, including the Caribou Restaurant, Muddy Moose Bar & Lounge and a handful of banquet rooms, will be temporarily shut down for remodeling. A new owner plans to reopen the historic venue in Studio City as a modern restaurant and boutique shopping center, perhaps with a new name. And perhaps the kind of place that many would shy away from.
“We've been to other places, but I didn't like that it was too ritzy," said Jerry Bass, holding a page listing dozens of events he's held at the lodge since 1970, including his 35th, 50th and 60th wedding anniversaries. “It wasn't, like we call it in Yiddish, haimish or homey," he continued. “The other places, they didn't have the same thing. They didn't feel the same way."
In 1972, Alberto Aparicio's father, Juan, took a job as a busboy after emigrating from Mexico City. While working double shifts serving as many as 800 diners a day, Alberto's family obtained green cards, learned English by watching old movies, became citizens, bought houses and sent children to college.
Aparicio recalls that after watching The Ten Commandments, he realized its star, Charlton Heston, was the customer he had seen perched on a bar stool sipping soup. In its heyday, Clark Gable, John Wayne and Bette Davis favored the lodge, where Ronald Reagan and his bride, Nancy, held their wedding reception.
Along the way, the Aparicios and many of the lodge's employees forged bonds in a business rife with high turnover. “Some of the guys working here have known me since I was 17," said Aparicio, who started as a busboy in 1978 and now manages a staff of 45. “I like the fact I grew up with a lot of these people."
Big Band Reunion '08
Over 300 people came to the Big Band Academy of America's annual “Big Band Reunion" on June 1, 2008 at The Sportsmen's Lodge, 12833 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, CA. The Sportsmen's Lodge is a very scenic property, with lush gardens, towering redwoods, and winding paths. There were many other notables present at the Big Band Reunion. For instance, this man really to me needs no name tag, for he is bandleader - arranger - composer Van Alexander. Arranger - composer Sammy Nestico, host Peter Marshall, half of today's Mods, singers Paula Kelly Jr. and her sister, Juliann.
Comedy legend Stan Freberg was given a “Golden Bandstand" award. Freberg collaborated with the late bandleader - arranger Billy May on many Capitol recordings during the 1950s and '60s.
All performers were backed by Pat Longo and His Hollywood Big Band, which that day included such sidemen as tenor saxophonist Pete Christlieb, who worked with Jerry Gray and later The Tonight Show band, and bassist Richard Maloof, a former member of Lawrence Welk's orchestra.
Once a trout farm
When it opened in 1913, the Hollywood Trout Farms featured ponds and a bait-and- tackle shop. Dave Harlig bought the venue near the end of World War II, added the first dining room and kitchen and reopened it as the Sportsmen's Lodge on Dec. 31, 1946.
The rustic dining hall became a movie studio hangout at a time when sheep grazed hillsides later claimed by Universal Studios. Surrounded by orange groves, the Ventura Boulevard restaurant quickly became a local hot spot, a place where patrons could hook their dinner and have it fried fresh in the kitchen.
As he learned to cook chateaubriand and flaming cherries jubilee, Alberto Aparicio rubbed elbows with dignitaries and celebrities. Once, he refilled President Ford's water glass without permission, earning reprimands both from the Secret Service and his boss.
He recalled showing Sylvester Stallone how to make strong Cuban coffee, sashaying around Patrick Swayze strutting his stuff during salsa night and watching Tom Selleck eat barbecued buffalo burgers.
