For the Hungry, Cafe Is Soul of Neighborhood

For nearly half a century, Jacob’s Cafe has been a community treasure in South-Central Los Angeles, dishing out some of the best soul food in town.

But what really makes Jacob’s so dear to the neighborhood is not the food it serves to patrons of the popular Broadway restaurant, but rather the plates of food it hands out free to the neighborhood’s downtrodden.

They gather in the early evening, usually about 5:30 p.m., and within half an hour, when Jacob’s closes, a line of hungry adults and children snakes from the front door of the cafe at Broadway and 47th Street. All the food that has been cooked and not sold is given away.

The restaurant was opened in 1947 by Artelyous and Verities ( Jacobs on Griffith Avenue near 22nd Street. Even then, Jacob’s was feeding the needy, though a different sort than today.

“There wasn’t as many homeless then, so we gave food to Bell’s School [for the handicapped],” says current owner and chef Carolyn Jacobs Celestine, daughter of the original owners. “Things are much worse now.”

Today, Celestine, who started “washing dishes and burning trash” at the restaurant when she was 8, says her cafe feeds as many as 100 needy people Sunday through Thursday evenings when the restaurant is open. A typical plate might include greens, rice and gravy, corn bread and a piece of fried chicken or short ribs. “It’s enough food to take the edge off when you’re down and out,” Celestine said.

One such down and out local is Ray Lafayette, 44, who says he gets his dinner at Jacob’s several times a week. “Sometimes I don’t know what I’d do without that place.”