Tea Room

The Tea Room at h.wood is an exclusive one-room club within an already exclusive nightclub. Like a glammed-out Russian nesting doll, it is tucked inside the stolid concrete frame of h.wood, which is located at the far end of the Hollywood & Highland complex in the tawdry heart of Hollywood. It cracks its doors only on Wednesdays, when a rush of sultry young women and slender young men with intricate tattoos wait in line for admission. Very few will get in, however. The Tea Room, which is owned by night-life veteran Loyal Pennings and a duo of driven 29-year-old entrepreneurs named John Terzian and Brian Toll, trades inaccessibility for its hot-spot cachet.

When Max Winkler set out to make a movie, he made one thing clear: He didn't want any help from his Hollywood veteran father, no matter how tempting the prospect. Editing his directorial debut, "Ceremony," out of his boyhood bedroom put Winkler mighty close to Dad — Henry Winkler, still remembered best as the Fonz from "Happy Days. " "I would walk down the hall and I would have a spring in my step knowing [Max] was nearby, but as I turned to come in the room, I would see the door almost in my face," the elder Winkler recalled.

The ladies who lunch are shedding serious tears. Never again will they taste that heavenly Coconut Cream Pie, as soft and rounded as a cumulus cloud, as white as a snowdrift. Gone are the Monte Cristo sandwiches, the Bombay salad with honey-sweet Poppy-Seed Dressing, the Bread Pudding, the scones and tea, the discreet martinis. It all ended April 2 when the Tea Room at I. Magnin Bullocks Wilshire closed. The store itself closed on Tuesday, 63 years and seven months after it opened.

History buffs visiting Massachusetts this Fourth of July weekend may note that something is missing in Boston. Paul Revere's house still stands. Boston Common and the Freedom Trail — a walking tour of historic sites — are there too. But the estimated 2.5 million people headed to the area this weekend will not see a museum commemorating the Boston Tea Party. In December 1773, patriots dressed as Mohawk Indians first converged on a meetinghouse (also accessible today)

The Russian Tea Room, an old favorite of A-list celebrities, reopened Monday, and the see-and-be-seen crowd was back to judge whether the restaurant still has it after a four-year, $22-million renovation. The ladies who lunch streamed through the revolving doors "just left of Carnegie Hall" beginning promptly at 11:30 a.m., greeted by waiters in red tunics pouring vodka and dishing caviar.

When Max Winkler set out to make a movie, he made one thing clear: He didn't want any help from his Hollywood veteran father, no matter how tempting the prospect. Editing his directorial debut, "Ceremony," out of his boyhood bedroom put Winkler mighty close to Dad — Henry Winkler, still remembered best as the Fonz from "Happy Days. " "I would walk down the hall and I would have a spring in my step knowing [Max] was nearby, but as I turned to come in the room, I would see the door almost in my face," the elder Winkler recalled.

In a follow-up to last week's column, here are more places to have a cup of tea or buy tea leaves. * Urth Caffe: This wildly popular cafe has a large, interesting selection, many of which are house blends such as Ceylon Champagne Napoleon (two grades of Ceylon), Hong Kong Breakfast (Oolongs), Moroccan (green Gunpowder and mint) and Monticello Afternoon (very lightly bergamot-scented). (Teas, small pot $2.50, large pot $3.50; leaf, 1 ounce $2.25 to $6.75.) Urth Caffe, 8565 W. Melrose Ave.

The tearoom experience at I. Magnin Bullocks Wilshire was shared by several generations. This story, first printed in The Times in 1990, shows how, even in recent years, the Tea Room was adored as a wild trip into the past, a visit into a world that had largely disappeared from Southern California daily life. Humberto Lara is the tuxedoed maitre d' at the I. Magnin Bullocks Wilshire Tea Room.

Is your closet a disaster? Are you a fashion maven whose wardrobe is a mess? If organization is missing from your closet, then it's a classic case for Barbara King of Costa Mesa. King, owner of Barbara's Classic Closet, will take inventory, then help you get the most out of your wardrobe and closet. King has a background in fashion. She has worked with Donna Karan and Ralph Lauren. And she has a keen sense of organization.

Re "A Grand Dame's Farewell" (Jan. 22): As a little girl, I remember going downtown on Saturday morning to shop. It was a special treat--Bullock's on Broadway and Hill Street, next stop Robinson's. Years later when I worked downtown, my mother and I would have lunch at Robinson's on the seventh floor at the Round Robin cafeteria next to the Tea Room. Next we would do a little shopping, browse the greeting card department and listen to the old escalator rattle up and down. Going to Robinson's always reminds me of special times spent with my mom. How sad that another wonderful old establishment will be just another fond memory.

To be successful in Hollywood, a nightclub must operate like a 6-foot-tall, 118-pound model with a D-cup bra and a cultivated disinterest in the hordes of would-be lovers falling at her feet. In other words, the more beautiful and inaccessible the club, the more people will want in. It's a formula aspired to but rarely realized, which accounts for the many failed clubs that appear and disappear on and around Hollywood's Walk of Fame each year. It's also why club-watchers have their eyes trained on the latest big opening to hit Tinseltown: Las Palmas.

The Tea Room at h.wood Where: 1738 N. Orange Drive, L.A. When: Wednesdays, 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Price: $10 to $20, cocktails Contact: (323) 871-2262

There on the left is the plush booth where Dustin Hoffman's character shocked his -- or would that be her? -- agent into ordering a double shot of vodka in the film "Tootsie." Paul McCartney once strolled solo through the revolving door, sat at the shiny bar and ordered a margarita in a martini glass. Years ago, an unknown named Madonna might have checked your coat. The Russian Tea Room, with its rich red and deep green decor, still reeks of glamour. But some things have changed.

AS we stand at the doorway of the Scarlet Tea Room in Pasadena, my young companion, a college student more conversant with rock en espanol than with, say, clotted cream and lemon curd, turns to me with trepidation. "Maybe I'm not dressed appropriately," she says, looking down at her low-slung jeans and glitter-embellished top. Images of disapproving dowagers rise in both our minds -- but we bravely open the door and step in. My friend is immediately charmed and disarmed.

NEW YORK * The Russian Tea Room was jammed with nostalgic borscht fans enjoying martinis and caviar on the restaurant's final day. "My husband and I used to come here all the time, for maybe the past 25 years," customer Claire Strauss said. "They have the best borscht in town." The restaurant, a beloved meeting spot for musicians, actors and publishers next to Carnegie Hall, underwent a three-year, $30-million renovation recently.

Author Henry James said, "There are few hours in my life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as tea." This weekend, indulge in the slightly decadent ritual. Thursday Traffic, stress ... life throws you a bad hair day every now and then. Elixir Tonics & Teas (8612 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood, [310] 657-9300) specializes in rejuvenating teas and tonics.

It looked like an open casting call for a remake of "Easter Parade." Hats of feather, fur and straw; orange hats, black hats, purple hats and green, a veritable palette of hats, bedecked in jewels and tulle and lace and jet and tiny stuffed birds. Fancy and plain, they sat on the heads of almost 500 women who gathered recently at the Wilshire Ebell for a tribute to Bullock's Wilshire. That's a lot of dames in hats.