MADISON -- The present Lakewood Inn Restaurant was built in 1927. During the winter of 1938-1939, the terrace dining room, formerly an outdoor eating place, was closed in. Later, the kitchen doubled in size.

In a far corner is the Bette Davis table. Davis never performed on the Lakewood Theater stage as far as anyone knows, and while she is believed to have visited friends at the theater, it can not be confirmed that she ever requested a table at the inn.

Legendary talents such as Betsy Palmer, Allen Ludden, Betty White, Gloria Swanson, Lloyd Bridges, Ginger Rogers, Peggy Cass, Van Johnson, Vincent Price, Tom Poston, Tallulah Bankhead, Keenan Wynn, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Merv Griffin, Barbara Bel Geddes, Jane Wyatt, Imogene Coca, Carol Channing, Patty Duke, Ethel Barrymore, Milton Berle, Dennis Weaver, John Travolta and Scott Bakula all wined and dined at the inn throughout the decades.

Attendance at the restaurant waned in the 1950s, as fewer people turned out for live theater in favor of motion pictures and television.

"In the late 1980s, the ladies in their colorful finery and the men in white dinner jackets faded into the pines," the restaurant's Web site notes. "The Inn was abandoned. The building was closed, forgotten, neglected through most of the 1990s.

"The roof over the kitchen collapsed under the weight of unshoveled snow, and the once glorious summer showcase became an icy prison. The passage of the years transformed the once elegant rooms into a landscape of rotten floors, peeling paint and leaky roofs."

What was left of the inn was acquired by Curtain Up Enterprises in December 1998 through a generous donation. Many suggested the structure should simply be leveled.

After a year of contemplation and consultation, the directors of Curtain Up Enterprises resolved to preserve the vision of Lakewood founder Herbert Swett and pressed forward with a restoration of the Lakewood Inn Restaurant, according to the Web site.

Jon Saleeby, of North New Portland, master carpenter, craftsman and Lakewood actor, accepted the challenge. The wainscoting in the lobby, the fieldstone walls, three fireplaces and the terra cotta floors in the Terrace Room were restored.

"The wrought iron chandeliers in the ballroom glowed anew. Antique hutches, sideboards and cottage furniture turned back the hands of time."

The Lakewood Inn Restaurant reopened in 2000.

Source: www.lakewoodtheater.org