Financial Troubles Serve ‘Last Supper’ at Perino’s

Perino’s, hallowed in Los Angeles restaurant history, was padlocked this week amid bankruptcy proceedings and fruitless efforts to find restaurateurs interested in restoring it to its world-class status.

What was described as a Perino’s “last supper” was held at the mid-Wilshire District restaurant Tuesday night. Frank Esgro, the former owner, broke open a $130 bottle of champagne and toasted the restaurant’s future with two bankruptcy court trustees and two Los Angeles businessmen from whom he was leasing Perino’s until he was hit with bankruptcy litigation last January, said Paul Poppler, one of the trustees who attended the dinner.

But Poppler wasn’t so sure that the restaurant could regain the glamorous aura it had when, for more than half a century, it was favored by Presidents and film stars.

“It’s a dinosaur,” he said Thursday morning, standing in the restaurant’s parking lot while workers transferred foodstuffs from the kitchen to a waiting van for safe storage. “When you have three or four people emptying your ashtray” you can’t expect to make a profit, he added.

‘Work of Art’

David Langman, one of the Los Angeles owners of the property, said in a telephone interview, however, that he has received inquiries from as far away as London into the restaurant’s availability. “I would like to see a wonderful work of art like that continue,” he said.

Langman, a men’s wear designer, and his partner, Harold E. Frank of Los Angeles, want $5.5 million for the property at 4101 Wilshire Blvd.

“It’s not worth half that,” Esgro said when reached at his Beverly Hills home. “That’s far in excess of the market value for that area.”

Esgro, who was removed from the restaurant’s operations by a bankruptcy judge in January, said Los Angeles has lost a landmark.

“It’s a sad situation, I really wanted to see Perino’s continue,” he said.

His downfall, said Esgro, who bought Perino’s in 1968 from its founder, Alexander Perino (who died in 1982), was his attempt to expand into a complex downtown in the Wells Fargo Building. Perino’s Downtown, which opened in July, 1983, and closed in financial shambles last December, “lost over $7.5 million,” Esgro said.

During that period, the mid-Wilshire Perino’s--known for its continental cuisine and once offering 28 sole dishes--was used only for banquets and private parties.

“That was a mistake, moving downtown,” he said. “The night business, it wasn’t there. It was the cause of all the problems. I suppose I’m the one to take the blame.”

As a result, even though Esgro claimed that the original Perino’s never fell out of favor with its elite clientele--or lost a penny--it too was dragged into bankruptcy with the downtown complex. Since January, trustees have been running the operation.

Maud Chasen, owner of Chasen’s, another elegant local eating establishment, said she agrees with Esgro’s assessment that he made a big mistake trying to expand downtown. The move, she said, affected “that warmth and good feeling” that had been associated with the Perino’s image.

John Hammerton, 63, Perino’s maitre d’hotel for 30 years, said the restaurant’s image also was damaged by Esgro’s decision this year to inaugurate a $12.50 Sunday buffet.

“Unwashed people in jeans were eating here on Sunday,” he lamented while gazing at a $150,000 hand-cut crystal chandelier shimmering over an empty dining room.