THOUSAND OAKS : Many Would Hate to Bid Du-par’s Adieu

Roy Cooper sat in the Conejo Room of Du-par’s Restaurant and Bakery having a drink and complaining.

The 55-year-old Thousand Oaks man was contemplating the possibility that his favorite meeting place might be razed to make way for a shopping center.

“My friends are here. . . . I’m sorry to see it torn down,” said Cooper, who has been going to Du-par’s five times a week since it opened 30 years ago.

The Planning Commission will consider Monday a proposal to raze the restaurant and build a shopping center at 33 Thousand Oaks Blvd.

The restaurant’s lease expired in December, said Larry Janss, co-partner of the Village Co., the developer of the proposed $5.5-million-project.

The city planning staff has recommended approval of the shopping center project. Planner Bob Rickards said people have told him that they would be sad to see Du-par’s go, but “nothing official has been submitted in an attempt to preserve the building.”

Du-par’s has plans to relocate, Marilyn Williams, vice president of administration, said. “We’re looking in the Thousand Oaks area,” she said.

Du-par’s Restaurant and Bakery opened Dec. 15, 1960, before Thousand Oaks was incorporated, and is one of four Du-par’s in the Los Angeles area.

Ed Spiderlossmann has been eating at the restaurant since it opened in 1960. “We need another shopping center like we need a hole in the head,” he said.

Not everyone, however, has nostalgic memories of Du-par’s. Bob North, 71, of Malibu claimed that the Thousand Oaks restaurant serves the worst food of the four Du-par’s.

But on his way out, North asked to take home his leftovers and bought two brownies.