The Ivy Wants to Pull Plug on TMZ

Paps, the Ivy. Photo by beebrisk, Flickr

When we first spotted TMZ's cameras for the "live lunch feed," it was hard to imagine a restaurant owner or lunchers not getting pissed off at a camera just sitting there, video taping every passerby, every mouthful of salad, every sip of iced tea. At Toast, the manager simply said if the cameras got in the way, they'd ask them to leave; at Aroma Cafe in Studio City, the manager didn't want to talk about it; Urth Caffe seemed oblivious but then told the LAT they didn't care for it. But according to the Los Angeles Business Journal, it's starting to ruffle some feathers at the Ivy:

"I find it abhorrent and an invasion of privacy," said Richard Irving, co-founder of the Ivy restaurant on Robertson Boulevard in Beverly Hills... "We’ve always had our share of paparazzi but this is much more invasive."

Employees now re-position the large umbrellas along the patio perimeter to try to shield guests the TMZ cameras. Exec producer Harvey Levin once explained it this way: "We're on the sidewalk shooting in a public area, the way 100 other media outlets do. We never invade privacy." Keep telling yourself that, Harv.
· Eatery Web Cam Creating Distaste [LABJ]
· TMZ At It Again: Live Feed From Toast [~ELA~]
· No Celebrities at Aroma Cafe Today [~ELA~]
· Live Feed From Urth: Beam Us Out [~ELA~]
· Paparazzi: What's a Resto Owner To Do? [~ELA~]