Michele StuevenLights! Camera! Latkes! When Leah Adler, Steven Spielberg’s mom, opened up The Milky Way in 1977, it was one of the first kosher restaurants in Los Angeles and put the Pico Robertson neighborhood on the map. She and husband Bernie Adler felt that L.A. lacked enough Jewishness when they arrived here in 1974.
The former concert pianist turned restaurateur, now immortalized by Michelle Williams in The Fabelmans, died in 2017 at the age of 97. Despite a two-year hiatus after her death, a pandemic and the ensuing problems that have plagued the restaurant industry since, the Spielbergs were bound and determined to keep The Milky Way alive as an homage to the woman who inspired them on to greatness.
“After she passed away, we went to restaurant consultants and they all said nope, family owned without a family member operating it – it’s a disaster, close it,” Nancy Spielberg, who lives in New York but is involved with The Milky Way on a daily basis, tells L.A. Weekly. “And we said, no way. We’re going to make this great. We are going to make sure that it honors my mother’s memory and set about making it all about her. We redecorated it to reflect her denim overalls she always wore with her peter pan collar shirts.”
From left: Nancy Spielberg, Steven Spielberg, Leah Adler, Sue Spielberg, and Anne Spielberg in 1995 (Courtesy The Milky Way)
Adler’s paintings grace the walls, her own classical piano music that was taped years ago plays throughout the restaurant, and Spielberg family films of camping trips and cooking in the kitchen are displayed in LeeLee’s corner.
“She was a pianist and loved being on the stage,” says Spielberg, who also is a documentary feature producer. “For her, greeting people at the door and prancing from table to table was her stage. She loves interacting with people. She had such a following in the community because she didn’t just dish out incredible food, she dished out incredible advice. People would come in and ask her what to do about their kids or their lovelife. She had a unique perspective. She was not your typical Jewish mom in her advice. She was very much about listening to your heart.”
Hanukkah latke kit (Courtesy The Milky Way)
Executive and restaurant consultant Phil Kastel of PK&J Hospitality Group (The Grill on the Alley and Public School) oversees the menu and events at The Milky Way and works closely with Spielberg at the kosher certified restaurant in L.A. ‘s borscht belt. Kastel has put a modern spin on the kosher dairy menu with new items, updating many of Adler’s original family recipes. During Hanukkah, latke kits are available at $36 for a dozen and include house-made apple compote and sour cream in the signature blue box.
“We loved Hanukkah,” says Spielberg. “But we lived in a neighborhood where every other house had Christmas lights. My sister Anne’s birthday was Christmas, so she was always a little depressed on that day because she couldn’t have a birthday party on her actual birthday because her friends were busy opening Christmas presents. So my mother would go over the top with gifts and presents. A friend of the family bought all of this crazy costumey stuff one year and my mother came out in a long wig, fake eyelashes with a long cigarette holder, and we all dressed up as beatniks. We’ve got home movies of everybody sashaying around in beatnik costumes in this empty living room, because all it ever had in it was the baby grand piano, pretending to knock off the ashes. It was a wonderful drama. My mom burnt a lot of the latkes, getting distracted.”
So what’s it like having your family history played out and laid bare in the Golden Globe-nominated Fabelmans?
“It’s very vulnerable because it’s all very authentic and you’re really putting yourself out there,” says Spielberg, who is portrayed as Lisa Fabelman by Sophia Kopera in the film. “Even the way we designed the set – we rebuilt our childhood home. It was such an experience to walk in and see things on the wall that my mom had painted that we grew up with and Michelle playing music that were my mom’s favorite pieces. I’m really good with it and so are my sisters. Steve was very hesitant and approached each of us separately and said, ‘How do you feel about this? Read the script and tell me how you feel.’ It was one resounding yes. We felt it really honored all of our family. It honored my dad and my mother and my stepfather. There’s really no villain in the story.”
Courtesy The Milky Way
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