Fiondella died Nov. 6 at a Santa Monica care facility after a long battle with Parkinson's disease, his family said.
In 1959, he was hustling for small acting parts and tending bar on the Santa Monica Pier when he heard about a small coffee shop for sale on Ocean Avenue and decided to turn it into Chez Jay. From the start, Chez Jay drew celebrities. One reason was that Fiondella carefully protected them from fans and gawkers, according to a 2002 Times article on “splendid dives." When customers walked in with cameras, he threw them out.
After opening Chez Jay, Fiondella brought his widowed mother, Alice, west to help run the place with the sawdust floors so he would not have to give up his swashbuckling ways.
Stories of the famous who hung out at Chez Jay were often repeated: Daniel Ellsberg, who worked at the nearby Rand Corp., supposedly passed the Pentagon Papers to a reporter there. Marlon Brando allegedly waltzed off with a waitress. Henry Kissinger spent so much time in the back, a rear table was dubbed the “Kissinger Room."
In the early 1950s, Fiondella roomed with actor Leonard Nimoy, who told The Times in an e-mail: “He was a gregarious, great guy. . . . I ate at his place occasionally. Always had great stories and good food."
Alan Shepard, commander of Apollo 14, was dining at Chez Jay when Fiondella persuaded him to take one of the restaurant's trademark peanuts with him to the moon in 1971, Fiondella often said. He recalled telling the astronaut: “I want to have the first astro-nut." When Shepard returned the legume, he reportedly signed an affidavit that stated it had accompanied him to the moon.
“Jay used to carry the peanut around in his pocket and put it down on the bar," Stebbins said. “One time, actor Steve McQueen put it in his mouth and Jay had to wrestle with him to get it away."
