RECOVERY SUMMER! U.S. restaurants starved for business. “The number of restaurants operating nationwide dropped this year for the first time in more than a decade, a survey shows, with California accounting for almost a third of the losses.”

UPDATE: Reader Greg Pollard writes: “I wondered about the studio and related Hollywood layoffs mentioned in the article. Are you aware of any recent links or articles regarding that phenomenon? I suppose it’s poetic justice in a way, based on how caring the Hollywood crowd is toward large chunks of their potential audience.” No, it’s news to me.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Danielle Schlei sends this report and cautions: “As you can see from the LA times blog post, mostly IT & home entertainment are affected; not the folks who make decisions about what is produced. I live in LA and know people affected by this layoff.”