Musso and Frank

Musso and Frank, still surviving even though it's disturbingly marooned in the anarchy of Hollywood Blvd. And though it still has that old dark-and-heavy interior decoration and famous martinis, apparently it doesn't boast old waiters, which really are the best thing to encounter when you go to a Hollywood throwback kind of place.

They used to have those at the old Dupar's in the Farmers Market--waitresses who'd been there practically since the place opened. 70-year-old ladies who either tottered along and called you "dear" or snarked half-kiddingly at you that they didn't "do" glasses of water. People Who Remember The Place When and Still Do Things The Old Way are awesome for the ambiance.

But a friend of mine complained that the last time he got a martini at Musso's, the bar was manned by Latin American immigrants--not that there's anything wrong with that. It's just that they didn't know the history of the place or the stories, even if they could have told 'em in English.