Scandia Restaurant opened in 1946 by natives of Copenhagen on Sunset Boulevard just west of Doheny. I’m guessing that the “you have to use binoculars to read the menu” thing was their gimmick but really, wouldn’t it have been easier on the customers if they just printed out a menu…? I guess Peter Lorre didn’t mind – apparently ate there every Saturday.
Scandia was owned by Margie and Robert E. Petersen of Petersen Publishing fame from 1978 to 1985. The Petersen Publishing tower was at 8490 Sunset and Scandia was at 9040 Sunset. Petersen published Hot Rod, Motor Trend, Guns & Ammo, Teen and a myriad of other special interest magazines.
A friend of mine who worked for Petersen Publishing at the time told me that one of the reasons the Petersens bought the restaurant was to control entertaining expenses of the Petersen staff. Once they bought the restaurant, if you were entertaining a client you had to take them to Scandia!