The stories about Chez Jay, a beloved Westside restaurant and Santa Monica Historic Landmark as of 2012, are endless. There’s the one about the “Astro-nut,” the peanut sitting in the owners’ safe that Alan Shepard took with him to the moon on Apollo 14. Or the one about the secret meet-up between Marilyn Monroe and JFK, or the passing of the Pentagon Papers to a New York Times reporter at Table 10. The Beach Boys brawled here; Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Warren Beatty wrote screenplays; and The Rat Pack gathered. In fact, the name Chez Jay is a nod to Chez Joey, the supper club in Frank Sinatra’s film “Pal Joey.”
Chez Jay is both a dive bar and classy joint where celebrities often hang. Located on Ocean Avenue across from the Santa Monica Pier, it is something of a celebrity itself since opening in 1959. Original owner Jay Fiondella hosted a circus elephant at the launch party, which snacked on peanuts — still the eatery’s signature free offering today. . . .
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Jessica Koslow 