Is there a way to delete some items from a chart legend, but keep the lines on the chart?
In my attached example, the “Column C/E/H” gray dotted lines are for before the property was purchased. (Poplar was purchased before 1994, so it has no gray dotted line, and Walnut was not built until 2000.) In the chart legend, I want to keep Elm, Maple, Poplar, and Walnut in the legend, but I want to delete the “Column C/E/H” items in the legend. But keep the gray dotted lines in the chart.
Any ideas?
Double-click on the chart to edit it.
Format > Data Ranges > Data Series tab.
Move data series for unwanted legend items to the bottom of the list, OK.
From the toolbar at the bottom, select “Insert Rectangle”.
Position and size and color the rectangle to cover the unwanted legend items.
(In my new example, the rectangle has a faint gray dotted outline. In real life, it would not have an outline.)
An interesting elegant solution (because the state of a Calc chart remains). After scaling the entire chart you probably have to newly adjust the inserted rectangle.
Thanks. I hadn’t noticed the chart drawing toolbar before. Lots of ways to clutter up a nice, simple chart. 
And yes, if you change the chart, you might have to move/resize the rectangle - a minor inconvenience. I don’t have enough points yet to click the checkmark for my own correct answer. Maybe somebody else can.
Workaround: Copy chart and paste in Draw as GDI or curve, break, then erase parts of legends.
Logically your chart is no more to edit as a chart but as a drawing.