Antonio goes to Lucy's

Lucy’s El Adobe Cafe near Paramount Studios has been prime Democratic turf since Gov. Jerry Brown made it his L.A. headquarters in the 1970s. His long romance with Linda Ronstadt began there; Jackson Browne, the Eagles and J.D. Souther hung out too. More recently Lucy's was Jim Hahn's favorite Mexican restaurant. So it wasn't until a fundraiser on Dec. 8 that Antonio Villaraigosa came through the doors for the first time and met Lucy Casado, whose late husband Frank helped start the Mexican American Political Association. Tony Castro, editor of the weekly Los Angeles Independent, covers the Melrose Avenue rapprochement in his latest column.

The moment Antonio Villaraigosa laid eyes on the eastern wall in the main room at Lucy’s El Adobe Cafe in Hollywood, he became like a child on Santa’s lap.

The wall is covered in photographs of some of the most prominent names in American politics and pop culture — from the late Hubert Humphrey to Ronald Reagan, from Dolly Parton to Drew Barrymore, from Cesar Chavez to Steven Spielberg.

For Villaraigosa, who has been on the cover of Newsweek and treated like a celebrity almost everywhere he goes, seeing this collection of a virtual Walk of Fame meant just one thing:

“I want my picture on that wall.”

Casado remained non-committal about admitting Villaraigosa to the restaurant's wall of fame, even though he personally met and chatted with each of the cooks and waiters: "She has seen charisma, and it alone is not enough. Witness Bill Clinton. His picture is not on her Wall of Fame. Villaraigosa, at least, is in the running," Castro writes.

Also: The Lucy's fundraiser was for state Assembly candidate Janet Reilly, the wife of former Riordan campaign manager and San Francisco real estate and political macher Clint Reilly. The Reillys held two San Francisco fundraisers for Villaraigosa this year. Joe Scott has more at The Body Politic.