Beginning Of The End For The Buffalo Club?

Driving down Olympic Boulevard the other day, we noticed that the Buffalo Club was now prominently displaying its name in TWO windows facing the busy street.

I realize that for most normal operations, sporting signage is a necessary part of doing business... but the Buffalo club isn't normal. Part of the charm for the darkly-lit Santa Monica speakeasy was the way they flew way-way-way under the radar. In the Mid nineties, the buffalo club was a trendy hang-out for celebs, studio execs, and east coast transplants. In a way, if you knew about the so-nondescript-you'll-drive-right-by-it bar and restaurant, you were a part of the... um, 'club.'

A favorite hang-out of Don Simpson, his pals threw a memorial-party here when the uber-producer passed-away in 1996 of a drug overdose.

So why the 'very normal' signage for the normally secretive restaurant?

Hollywood Thoughts knows that trendy always passes into yesterday. The hipsters have moved-on, and maybe the locals don't feel like paying studio suit prices (the club has a wonderful bar and patio-- but the menu has always been overpriced. Don't take our word for it... visit Worlds Best Bars for several first-hand reviews).

A friend of HT mentioned that when they visited the club last week, the joint was virtually vacant. Roll a grenade through the place, and you wouldn't have hit a soul.

Perhaps too many prospective restaurant-goers aren't in the mood for a scavenger hunt search for a place to have dinner...

In any event, the change means that time marches on... the bloom eventually goes off the rose... and (ask Madonna about this point) change is inevitable if you want to remain relevant. Or simply in business...