Spago Hollywood Closing in March

Friday, January 26th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LOS ANGELES (AP) â€” Spago Hollywood, the restaurant that quickly became the watering hole of choice to Hollywood's brightest stars and biggest deal makers when it opened 19 years ago, is closing at the end of March.

The restaurant, which also made a star of its chef and owner, Wolfgang Puck, was an immediate hit with the film industry. Actors and dealmakers arrived in droves to be seen dining on the edge of the Sunset Strip. Each year, the late agent Irving ``Swifty'' Lazar made it the site of his legendary post-Academy Awards parties.

But the restaurant has seen its reputation eclipsed in recent years by Puck's newer and trendier Spago Beverly Hills, and tourists in casual dress can now be seen at tables that were once reserved strictly for Hollywood's elite.

With the change in clientele and the need for costly renovations, Puck decided it was best to simply close it, said his publicist, Jannis Swerman.

Spago will go out in style, with the chef and his friends and colleagues preparing food for a series of farewell parties that will culminate with closing galas on March 28 and 29.