GOOD TIMES AND LAUGHS WAFT 60 YEARS LATER IN SMOKE HOUSE.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

Judy Denniss takes a long, nostalgic look around the Smoke House restaurant in Burbank and sees 60 years of laughs and good times.

She smiles, feeling no urgent need to state the obvious: If only these walls could talk.

``The cast of `Laugh In' came in every day and sat over there,'' said the veteran waitress. ``I've never laughed so much in my life.

``Flip Wilson liked that booth, and George Clooney was in every day when he was shooting `ER.' Adam West -- Batman on TV -- always caused the biggest excitement coming in. Then there was the cast of `Murphy Brown.' They were so much fun.''

From Bob Hope and Bing Crosby -- who both showed up on opening night in 1946 to christen the newest restaurant in town -- to nearly every actor across the street at Warner Bros., they've all had a few drinks, dinners, and laughs at the venerable Smoke House.

And no one -- not any of the five owners over the last 60 years, or the cooks, bartenders and busboys -- has seen more of those laughs and good times from the inside than Denniss.

She's been carrying trays laden with drinks, food and the restaurant's trademark garlic bread for 44 years.

``I couldn't wait to get a job here when I turned 21 and could legally serve drinks because it was just such a fun place to work,'' said Denniss, who used to live a block away from the Lakeside Drive restaurant before moving to Simi Valley.

``You know that famous scene from `Laugh In' where Artie Johnson as a dirty old man is riding a tricycle down the street and falls over like he's been shot? That was filmed on my block.''

With its red-leather booths and candlelit tables, the restaurant is a throwback to classier times, when couples like Gloria and Jack Sisk of nearby Toluca Lake would parlay a day at Santa Anita Racetrack to dinner at the Smoke House.

``Coming here is like taking a walk back into the '40s and '50s,'' Gloria said, sipping a cosmopolitan, while Jack has his regular before-dinner drink -- VO and water with a twist.

Celebrating 60 years, owners Lee and Marti Spencer will offer a $19.46 special on the menu every night in October.

``We eat here two or three nights a week, and always sit in one of Judy's booths because she makes the night special,'' Gloria added.

When you've been serving steady customers for 44 years, you know what they like, and make sure everything's perfect, Denniss says.

That's how a restaurant makes it 60 years in this town while your competitors from that era are long gone.

``You want people to remember they had a good time and good food,'' Denniss said. ``I still come to work every day feeling like I'm coming to a party.''

With that the veteran waitress smiles, and looks out from the dining room area into the crowded bar.

Ah, if only those walls could talk.

They might tell you about the night actress Rene Zellweger got up on the bar and sang ``Happy Birthday'' to George Clooney.

Or the night...

dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com

[phone]

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Smoke House restaurant waitress Judy Denniss, right, serves a basket of garlic bread to Jack and Gloria Sisk of Toluca Lake, her customers for 26 years. The 60-year-old restaurant was once a hangout for Bob Hope and Bing Crosby.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer

(2) The Smoke House restaurant in its early days. The restaurant has kept its doors open for 60 years. One of the waitresses, Judy Denniss, has worked there for 44 years.