Dine with history at L.A.’s landmark restaurants, founded in 1935 or earlier
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Is a restaurant worth a visit simply because it’s been around longer than that bottle of yellow mustard in your refrigerator? Longer than your oldest living relative? Maybe. Proper respect should be paid to an institution.
Los Angeles is home to restaurants celebrating a century in business. About 36,500 days in operation. The feat alone is something to marvel at.
What is Hollywood without the martini culture built around Musso & Frank Grill? The Long Beach bar scene without the Schooners of cold beer and pickled eggs at Joe Jost’s? A South Pasadena stretch of Route 66 without milkshakes and phospate sodas at Fair Oaks Pharmacy? Over decades in business, these restaurants have become landmarks synonymous with the cities themselves.
Some of L.A.’s most popular attractions are our food halls, with Grand Central Market in downtown and the Original Farmers Market in Fairfax drawing millions of visitors each year. Grand Central Market opened in 1917 with nearly 100 food merchants. Its oldest running restaurant is Roast To Go, a walk-up counter that’s been around since 1952 and serves one of the best tacos in L.A.. In 1934, about a dozen farmers and other vendors started selling produce at the corner of 3rd Street and Fairfax Avenue, where the Original Farmers Market still operates today. Magee’s Kitchen, its oldest restaurant, began when Blanche Magee started serving lunch to the farmers in the ‘30s.
1. El Coyote founder Blanche March. (El Coyote) 2. The counter at Fugetsu-Do in 1904. (Fugetsu-Do Bakery Shop) 3. Alicia Mijares, left, daughter of Mijares founder Jesucita Mijares, with Maria Guzman in 1984. (Mijares Restaurant)
Many of the restaurants on this list were built by immigrants from every corner of the world, their American dreams realized in a mochi shop in Little Tokyo, a French restaurant in downtown L.A. and a taste of Jalisco, Mexico, in Pasadena.
If you’re looking for the oldest restaurant in Los Angeles County, you’ll find it in Santa Clarita, a city about 30 miles northwest of downtown. Originally called the Saugus Eating House when it opened as part of a railway station in 1886, the Saugus Cafe boasts a history rich with Hollywood film stars, U.S. presidents and a train network that helped establish towns across the state.
In 1916, the cafe moved across the street to where it sits now, one long, narrow building that includes a dining room and a bar. It has closed, reopened and changed hands numerous times over the last 139 years. Longtime employee Alfredo Mercado now owns the restaurant.
It’s a place that exists in a cocoon of nostalgia. The history embedded in the walls, the decor and the friendly staff are the main draw. If you’re searching for the best breakfast in town, you may want to keep looking.
The following are decades-old restaurants that have stood the test of time, shrinking wallets and fickle diners. In operation for 90 years or longer, these 17 destinations (listed from oldest to newest) are worth the trip for both the history, and whatever you decide to order. — Jenn Harris
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Fugetsu-Do, 1903
Downtown L.A. Sweets shop
(Fugetsu-Do)
Seiichi Kito opened Fugetsu-Do in Little Tokyo more than 120 years ago, and his grandson, Brian Kito, now runs the family’s mochi shop and factory on a historic block of 1st Street. The chewy Japanese confections, made by pounding glutinous rice, come in a rainbow of pastel colors (including Dodgers light blue) and have various fillings, such as sweet red bean paste or peanut butter.
Behind the glass case in the tiny store, which is also crammed with shelves of Japanese snacks and rice crackers, are seasonal varieties of the filled mochi dumplings. In the springtime that includes kusa mochi made from the herb mugwort, and pale pink cherry-blossom mochi wrapped in the leaves of the tree. But the most popular is Fugetso-Do’s signature mochi topped with a fresh strawberry.
Behind the glass case in the tiny store, which is also crammed with shelves of Japanese snacks and rice crackers, are seasonal varieties of the filled mochi dumplings. In the springtime that includes kusa mochi made from the herb mugwort, and pale pink cherry-blossom mochi wrapped in the leaves of the tree. But the most popular is Fugetso-Do’s signature mochi topped with a fresh strawberry.
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Cole’s French Dip, 1908
Downtown L.A. Restaurant
(Con Keyes / Los Angeles Times)
As you descend the steps to the entrance of Cole’s French Dip, something about the sub-street-level doorway immediately evokes a different era. You’re walking into the early 20th century, when the ground floor of the Pacific Electric Building on 6th and Main streets in the core of downtown L.A. was a hub for the rail system known as the Red Car trolley line. The building opened in 1905, then the city’s tallest skyscraper, and Cole’s P.E. Buffet (named after the building’s visionary, Henry Cole) opened three years later — complete with tables built from the sides of trolley cars. Now the oldest restaurant and saloon in the city, Cole’s invented the French dip, though Philippe’s on the other side of downtown makes the same claim.
The 21st century iteration of Cole’s dip sandwich is your choice of roast beef, braised pork or lamb, or pastrami, served on a crusty roll lined with melted cheese (Swiss, cheddar, American or goat), an atomic pickle spear and a cup of au jus for dipping. Cocktails at the Red Car bar hew classic: an old fashioned, daiquiri, Manhattan, Irish coffee. During happy hour, add a Negroni to your dip for $7, “as mentioned in the Lincoln Lawyer,” the menu notes.
The 21st century iteration of Cole’s dip sandwich is your choice of roast beef, braised pork or lamb, or pastrami, served on a crusty roll lined with melted cheese (Swiss, cheddar, American or goat), an atomic pickle spear and a cup of au jus for dipping. Cocktails at the Red Car bar hew classic: an old fashioned, daiquiri, Manhattan, Irish coffee. During happy hour, add a Negroni to your dip for $7, “as mentioned in the Lincoln Lawyer,” the menu notes.
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Philippe the Original, 1908
Chinatown Sandwich Shop American cuisine
(Alex Justice/For The Times)
It’s cause enough for celebration when a restaurant survives for more than a century, but when that restaurant also allegedly invented one of the world’s most famous sandwiches, a parade should be thrown in its honor. Chinatown staple Philippe the Original debuted in 1908, founded by Philippe Mathieu: a Frenchman whose name points to the correct way to pronounce the restaurant. The legend goes that Mathieu accidentally dropped a French roll into meat jus while making a sandwich for a customer, and the French dip was born. Nearby Cole’s, located downtown, also claims to have invented the French dip, spurring a delicious, historical and century-long dispute.
At Philippe’s second, current home — where it’s stood since 1918 — there’s vintage charm and vestiges of history everywhere you look: the antique wooden telephone booths you’ll pass near the entrance, the scattering of sawdust on the floor (a tradition of the restaurant), decades of articles and news clippings that date back to the start proudly displayed on the walls. Make your way through the zigzag of the queue to get to the counter, where staff carve roast meats, dunk crusty-exteriored French rolls into rich, meaty jus, and scoop hearty portions of salads onto plastic cafeteria trays. Opt for breakfast, magenta-hued pickled beets, or a rainbow of pies (some with meringue poised 2 inches over the filling), but a French dip of any meat is requisite for a first-time visit, as is the hot mustard. Pick up a bottle to bring the flavor of this icon home.
At Philippe’s second, current home — where it’s stood since 1918 — there’s vintage charm and vestiges of history everywhere you look: the antique wooden telephone booths you’ll pass near the entrance, the scattering of sawdust on the floor (a tradition of the restaurant), decades of articles and news clippings that date back to the start proudly displayed on the walls. Make your way through the zigzag of the queue to get to the counter, where staff carve roast meats, dunk crusty-exteriored French rolls into rich, meaty jus, and scoop hearty portions of salads onto plastic cafeteria trays. Opt for breakfast, magenta-hued pickled beets, or a rainbow of pies (some with meringue poised 2 inches over the filling), but a French dip of any meat is requisite for a first-time visit, as is the hot mustard. Pick up a bottle to bring the flavor of this icon home.
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Fair Oaks Pharmacy, 1915
South Pasadena American Ice cream $
(Alex Justice/For The Times)
Founded as the South Pasadena Pharmacy by Gertrude Ozmun in 1915 and then renamed Raymond Pharmacy before getting its current title, Fair Oaks Pharmacy, in the ’40s, the Route 66 pit stop began as a popular pharmacy and soda fountain, offering a diner menu, ice cream and milkshakes. Now owned and operated by pharmacist Zahra Shahniani and her sons Ash and Brandon, you can still fill a prescription here or browse the gift shop that’s stocked with everything from retro memorabilia to souvenirs, puzzles and games. There’s even a section devoted to nostalgic candy brands like Pop Rocks and Necco Wafers. But step up to the counter that’s backed by a neon “Soda Fountain” sign to order up-to-12-pound ice cream sundaes, floats and thick milkshakes composed with Thrifty’s Ice Cream, plus freshly carbonated sodas. Dig into your selections on one of the spinning barstools and watch the soda jerks at work. Note that the soda fountain is closed on weekends and no longer serves a food menu.
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Musso & Frank Grill, 1919
Hollywood American Steakhouse $$$
(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)
Time shifts as you step through the canopied back door of Musso & Frank, down steep brass-handled stairs that lead to a stage-left view of the busy kitchen where you could easily imagine a Hollywood movie fight scene. Turn right toward the dining room, as the sign directs, through a windowed, polished wood door and take a glance at the phone booth alcoves as you make your way to a second door and enter the dining room filled with red leather booths, red-jacketed waiters and a customer mix of tourists, Hollywood regulars and nostalgic Angelenos.
On most tables are Musso’s famed martinis — stirred, not shaken, never with vermouth, and always served with “the dividend,” a mini carafe, or pony, of extra gin set into a diminutive ice caddy so that you can top off your sensibly sized glass and ensure your cocktail stays chilled as long as it lasts.
Executive chef J. P. Amateau (fittingly, a onetime Hollywood stuntman) and the restaurant’s team of kitchen pros have brightened and streamlined the menu established by original chef Jean Rue while maintaining key classics. I miss the lamb chops hot off the grill and finnan haddie (smoked haddock), but if you ask, you can still get hearts of romaine with a side of Roquefort vinaigrette. The sand dabs and creamed spinach are as good as ever, Jonathan Gold’s favorite Welsh rarebit remains on the menu and though Musso’s is no longer open during the day, flannel cakes, paper-thin and with a flavor reminiscent of fortune cookies, make a fine dessert.
As for the name, the Musso was Joseph Musso and the Frank was Frank Toulet. But at first there was only Toulet, who on Sept. 27, 1919, opened Frank’s Cafe on Hollywood Boulevard. Musso came along in 1923 and added his name to the enterprise. In 1927, John Mosso and Joseph Carissimi bought the place and later moved the restaurant one door down to its current location. So we might be talking about Mosso & Joseph if the two had wanted their names immortalized.
On most tables are Musso’s famed martinis — stirred, not shaken, never with vermouth, and always served with “the dividend,” a mini carafe, or pony, of extra gin set into a diminutive ice caddy so that you can top off your sensibly sized glass and ensure your cocktail stays chilled as long as it lasts.
Executive chef J. P. Amateau (fittingly, a onetime Hollywood stuntman) and the restaurant’s team of kitchen pros have brightened and streamlined the menu established by original chef Jean Rue while maintaining key classics. I miss the lamb chops hot off the grill and finnan haddie (smoked haddock), but if you ask, you can still get hearts of romaine with a side of Roquefort vinaigrette. The sand dabs and creamed spinach are as good as ever, Jonathan Gold’s favorite Welsh rarebit remains on the menu and though Musso’s is no longer open during the day, flannel cakes, paper-thin and with a flavor reminiscent of fortune cookies, make a fine dessert.
As for the name, the Musso was Joseph Musso and the Frank was Frank Toulet. But at first there was only Toulet, who on Sept. 27, 1919, opened Frank’s Cafe on Hollywood Boulevard. Musso came along in 1923 and added his name to the enterprise. In 1927, John Mosso and Joseph Carissimi bought the place and later moved the restaurant one door down to its current location. So we might be talking about Mosso & Joseph if the two had wanted their names immortalized.
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Mijares Mexican Restaurant, 1920
Pasadena Mexican $$
(Mijares Mexican Restaurant)
Even if you’ve never been to Mijares, the food is familiar: rice and refried beans topped with molten cheese in the center of a platter-sized plate with crisp-shelled tacos, enchiladas draped in brick-red sauce and maybe a chile relleno covered with what the menu calls “Spanish sauce.” This is the kind of combo meal Californians have been happily eating for generations. But if you consider this type of cooking inauthentic or are tempted to call it “Blando-Mex,” as I did of the many restaurants serving combo platters in the 1990s, when California’s Mexican food was making its overdue transition to the more diverse regionalization we enjoy today, know that this classic style is “more than nostalgia on a hot plate accompanied by chips and salsa,” as columnist Gustavo Arellano wrote recently. It’s “a metaphor for our state itself ... never static, perpetually underestimated, forever dynamic.”
One of the underappreciated pioneers of California’s classic Mexican food is Jesucita Mijares. She came to the U.S. from Jalisco, Mexico, and in 1920 opened a tortilla and tamale business called Jesucita’s from her home on Pasadena’s Fair Oaks Avenue. She quickly started serving tacos, enchiladas, chilaquiles, tostadas and other Mexican dishes, using a stone grinder for the masa in place of her metate when demand increased. Her mole and other sauces were especially prized and her reputation as a cook grew. In 1949, she moved the operation, renamed Mijares, to the corner of Palmetto Drive and Pasadena Avenue. Since then, the sprawling, hacienda-style restaurant, which can seat more than 600 customers and has four patios, has been a gathering spot for family celebrations and couples wanting a relaxing night out. Paul McCartney is often mentioned as a Mijares fan.
Over the years, the menu has evolved. One recent weekend special was pescado primavera (grilled mahi mahi from Fish King with tomato-cilantro butter over asparagus), and the margarita and other cocktail variations are vast. On my most recent visit, I went for a blood orange margarita on the rocks, which our pro waiter offered with both salt and Tajín on the rim, plus the classic Platillo Mexicano — a tamale with nice chunks of pork, a chile relleno with the kind of fluffy batter that home cooks rarely achieve and a cheese enchilada. It was perfect Mexican comfort food.
One of the underappreciated pioneers of California’s classic Mexican food is Jesucita Mijares. She came to the U.S. from Jalisco, Mexico, and in 1920 opened a tortilla and tamale business called Jesucita’s from her home on Pasadena’s Fair Oaks Avenue. She quickly started serving tacos, enchiladas, chilaquiles, tostadas and other Mexican dishes, using a stone grinder for the masa in place of her metate when demand increased. Her mole and other sauces were especially prized and her reputation as a cook grew. In 1949, she moved the operation, renamed Mijares, to the corner of Palmetto Drive and Pasadena Avenue. Since then, the sprawling, hacienda-style restaurant, which can seat more than 600 customers and has four patios, has been a gathering spot for family celebrations and couples wanting a relaxing night out. Paul McCartney is often mentioned as a Mijares fan.
Over the years, the menu has evolved. One recent weekend special was pescado primavera (grilled mahi mahi from Fish King with tomato-cilantro butter over asparagus), and the margarita and other cocktail variations are vast. On my most recent visit, I went for a blood orange margarita on the rocks, which our pro waiter offered with both salt and Tajín on the rim, plus the classic Platillo Mexicano — a tamale with nice chunks of pork, a chile relleno with the kind of fluffy batter that home cooks rarely achieve and a cheese enchilada. It was perfect Mexican comfort food.
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The Derby, 1922
Arcadia American Steakhouse $$
(The Derby)
Walking through the front entrance of the Derby in Arcadia is like walking through a horse racing museum. Photos, certificates, goggles, shoes and other racing memorabilia trace the roots of the restaurant and its deep ties to the sport. Hudson M. Proctor opened the restaurant as Proctor Tavern in 1922 at Foothill Boulevard and Santa Anita Avenue. In 1931, the restaurant moved to its current location. Jockey George Woolf, who rode Seabiscuit, took over the restaurant in 1938, and the Derby became a popular destination for racing fans from nearby Santa Anita Park. It’s a classic steakhouse with prime cuts and traditional sides of creamed spinach hidden under a blanket of cheese, potatoes Romanoff and marsala mushrooms. Dinner in one of the shiny red tufted booths always feels like a special occasion. In the lounge, tables and bar stools are never vacant for long. The Iceman, one of the restaurant’s most popular cocktails, is named for Woolf, who was known as the Iceman for his ability to be patient and keep cool during a race then break ahead. It’s an ice-cold martini served in a frosty glass with blue cheese-stuffed olives. It’s just the sort of libation you want to be sipping while watching a race on the TV above the bar.
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Tam O'Shanter, 1922
Atwater Village Scottish Home Cooking Steakhouse $$
(Tam O’ Shanter)
Opened by Lawrence Frank and Walter Van de Kamp in 1922, Tam O’Shanter was originally Montgomery’s Country Inn. In 1925 the two renamed the Atwater Village restaurant after a Robert Burns poem about a farmer named Tam, who liked to drink with friends at the local pub. The restaurant is impossible to miss, like a house plucked from a fairy tale, with its curved, thatched roof. Henry Oliver, an art director responsible for the Witches House (also known as the Spadena House) in Beverly Hills, designed the restaurant. John Wayne and Walt Disney were regulars. The latter visited so often with his staff that in the late 1920s the restaurant earned the nickname of the Disney Studio Commissary. The menu is simple tavern fare, with Scotch rarebit, platters of corned beef and mashed potatoes and a section of the menu offering cuts of prime rib from sister restaurant Lawry’s the Prime Rib. Even the smallest cuts are substantial, served alongside mashed potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and gravy that often reaches the brim of the plate.
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El Cholo, 1923
Harvard Heights Eatery
(Alex Justice/For The Times)
One of L.A.’s classic Mexican restaurants came about more than a century ago when Alejandro and Rosa Borquez opened Sonora Cafe near Exposition Park in 1923. The restaurant became a hot spot for professional athletes, local politicians and celebrities — photos of whom are now framed on the walls of El Cholo, a name it earned in 1925 thanks to a caricature drawn by a customer. Soon after, Alejandro and Rosa’s daughter Aurelia and her husband George Salisbury opened a second outpost in Koreatown. In 1931, El Cholo moved to its current location just across the street on Western Avenue.
Credited with introducing now-iconic Mexican American dishes such as burritos to American palates, El Cholo remains a family affair with Ron Salisbury — Aurelia and George’s son, now 92 — at the helm. With six locations across L.A. (and a newly opened seventh in Salt Lake City), much of the staff has been in place for decades. Rosa’s recipes still anchor the menu, with sensible adaptations that reflect diners’ shifting tastes, such as red-sauced enchiladas with more chiles for a less mild take. The menu lists the date that each item was added so you can travel back in time with traditional albondigas and chile con carne, or try updated favorites including sizzling fajitas (1984) and pan-seared mahi mahi tacos (2001). The house margarita has been around since 1967 and is served on the rocks in a pint glass, but I prefer the blended coconut marg that’s rimmed with toasted coconut.
Credited with introducing now-iconic Mexican American dishes such as burritos to American palates, El Cholo remains a family affair with Ron Salisbury — Aurelia and George’s son, now 92 — at the helm. With six locations across L.A. (and a newly opened seventh in Salt Lake City), much of the staff has been in place for decades. Rosa’s recipes still anchor the menu, with sensible adaptations that reflect diners’ shifting tastes, such as red-sauced enchiladas with more chiles for a less mild take. The menu lists the date that each item was added so you can travel back in time with traditional albondigas and chile con carne, or try updated favorites including sizzling fajitas (1984) and pan-seared mahi mahi tacos (2001). The house margarita has been around since 1967 and is served on the rocks in a pint glass, but I prefer the blended coconut marg that’s rimmed with toasted coconut.
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Joe Jost's, 1924
Long Beach American $
(Bora Chan / For The Times)
The dark wood bar of Joe Jost’s features pops of an almost neon-bright yellow everywhere you look. That’s because at this Long Beach mainstay still owned and operated by the same family for more than a century, the pickled eggs are a must-order. Seasoned generously with black pepper and served in a paper tray atop pretzel sticks and pepperoncini, the salty-tart bar snack is second only to founder Joe Jost’s signature old-timey sandwiches where soft, untoasted bread swaddles sausage, cheese, cold cuts, and egg salad, almost always washed down with craft beer on draft. Were it not for the TVs blaring live sports, this no-frills bar would feel trapped in time.
Its founder — a Hungarian barber, outdoorsman and future restaurateur — dreamed of immigrating to the U.S. and, at 16, he finally did. Eventually Jost traded his barber’s shears for an early iteration of his bar, first launching Joe Jost’s in Newport Beach with ice cream, beer, billiards, poker and candy. In 1924 he opened his business again, this time in Long Beach as a combination barbershop and pool hall with plenty of poker. When Prohibition lifted, Jost integrated beer into the offerings and with it, a food menu of sandwiches and those now-iconic pickled eggs. In order to avoid any alcohol-induced haircuts or injuries, Jost replaced his barbershop chairs with booths, which are almost constantly filled today.
Its founder — a Hungarian barber, outdoorsman and future restaurateur — dreamed of immigrating to the U.S. and, at 16, he finally did. Eventually Jost traded his barber’s shears for an early iteration of his bar, first launching Joe Jost’s in Newport Beach with ice cream, beer, billiards, poker and candy. In 1924 he opened his business again, this time in Long Beach as a combination barbershop and pool hall with plenty of poker. When Prohibition lifted, Jost integrated beer into the offerings and with it, a food menu of sandwiches and those now-iconic pickled eggs. In order to avoid any alcohol-induced haircuts or injuries, Jost replaced his barbershop chairs with booths, which are almost constantly filled today.
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Bay Cities Italian Deli & Bakery, 1925
Santa Monica Italian Deli $$
(Kendra Frankle / For The Times)
Regardless of the hour, when you walk through the doors of Bay Cities Deli in Santa Monica, a jumble of customers will be crowded around the counter that runs along the right side of the store. Most are there for the Godmother, an Italian submarine in the running alongside Langer’s No. 19 as one of the most well-known and loved sandwiches in Los Angeles history. It is the Italian hero against which all other Italian heroes are judged. All of the deli heavyweights, including salami, mortadella, ham, prosciutto and capicola, are layered onto a roll that’s soft in the center with a crust that crackles. Mayonnaise, yellow mustard and Italian dressing fuse together into one tangy sandwich condiment. The iceberg lettuce is shredded and the Chicago-style hot peppers are briny and crunchy. This particular assembly is hard to beat. But even if your sandwich preferences lean toward tuna salad, turkey or even meatball, Bay Cities is still the place to get your favorite stuff between sliced bread. Around since 1925, there’s an entire market of Italian products to peruse in addition to the sandwiches. Decades ago, it was one of the only places in town that carried good olive oil and an array of cheeses and cured meats from Italy. Now, you can find a decent bottle of olive oil all over the city. For the Godmother, there’s only one Bay Cities. At the time of publication, the deli is temporarily closed by the county health department.
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Barney's Beanery, 1927
West Hollywood American Restaurant
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Part roadhouse, part beacon for the world’s most famous celebrities, Barney’s Beanery is a century-old institution that’s just as famous for its chili as its clientele. In 1920 John “Barney” Anthony debuted his beanery in Berkeley before moving it to West Hollywood in 1927, where it served Hollywood and L.A. royalty such as Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Clark Gable, Quentin Tarantino, Eve Babitz and Jack Nicholson. A new wave as a Gen Z hot spot brought modern celebrities like Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift and Fred Again, proving that the Beanery’s star power is still going strong. But this serves as a gathering place for the non-famous, too, with guests filing in at all hours for burgers, strong cocktails, bar bites, all-day breakfast and the signature chili. Multiple, more modern chili variations can be found here, but the classic draws on Anthony’s recipe from the 1920s and is still deeply flavorful, satisfying and smothered in melted cheese.
L.A.’s original location might be the most iconic but there are others in Santa Monica, Burbank, Pasadena, Brentwood and even LAX, each with their own programming and unique craft beer lineups. At the oldest outpost, vintage Harley Davidson bikes displayed as decor cordon off the dining room from the bar and there are TVs in nearly every corner. There’s a soft red glow cast from Coor’s-brand lamps, which hang over tables decoupaged with photos and newspaper clippings of celebrities. On one wall there’s a framed check from Marilyn Monroe, written to cover her tab 75 years ago. Barney’s is an iconic greasy spoon steeped in sometimes even greasier history, a mainstay during the Sunset Strip’s sleaziest decades and located just a short jaunt from legendary venues such as Whisky a Go Go. Long may the scene reign.
L.A.’s original location might be the most iconic but there are others in Santa Monica, Burbank, Pasadena, Brentwood and even LAX, each with their own programming and unique craft beer lineups. At the oldest outpost, vintage Harley Davidson bikes displayed as decor cordon off the dining room from the bar and there are TVs in nearly every corner. There’s a soft red glow cast from Coor’s-brand lamps, which hang over tables decoupaged with photos and newspaper clippings of celebrities. On one wall there’s a framed check from Marilyn Monroe, written to cover her tab 75 years ago. Barney’s is an iconic greasy spoon steeped in sometimes even greasier history, a mainstay during the Sunset Strip’s sleaziest decades and located just a short jaunt from legendary venues such as Whisky a Go Go. Long may the scene reign.
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Taix French Restaurant, 1927
Echo Park French $$
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
In the bar of Taix restaurant, next to a roaring fireplace and under the glow of Christmas lights that never seem to dim, it’s easy to pretend you’re in a restaurant in the French countryside. Maybe minus the Christmas lights, but you get the idea. Here, the escargots are imported from Bourgogne, France, plump, tender and saturated in parsley-flecked garlic butter. The French onion soup is crowded with soft, sweet onions in a rich beef broth under a blanket of melted Gruyère. The pâté is rustic and robust, with the flavors of pork liver and hot black pepper. The baguette is always warm and fresh. The Taix family, who emigrated from France to Los Angeles in the late 19th century, opened Taix French restaurant in a downtown Los Angeles Hotel in 1927. The restaurant opened in its current location on Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park in 1962. It is still owned and operated by the Taix family. And the menu is still unapologetically French.
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Eastside Italian Deli & Market, 1929
Chinatown Deli $
(Eastside Italian Deli)
This stalwart sub shop is one of the last remaining vestiges of L.A.’s Little Italy, but it’s by no means an outdated relic. Originally opened as Eastside Market in 1929, Domenic Pontrelli and Joe Campagna’s one-stop shop for produce also housed a butchery and a sausage stand (which went on to become still-running purveyor Maestro Sausage). When the duo relocated to a larger spot, longtime employee Giovanni “Johnny” Angiuli and his brother Frank purchased the business in 1974 and began its renovation into the deli we know today.
They introduced hot food to the sandwich menu, adding a stove that allowed for eggplant parmigiana, lasagna and sausage with peppers. Both the recipes and the owners became community fixtures, and while these brothers passed on, their legacy is alive and well. The next generation of Angiuli brothers still serves their same recipes, heaping soft, gargantuan rolls with cold cuts, house-made red sauce draped over pastrami and sausage, and more modern specials like a “The Bear”-inspired take on the Chicago Italian beef sandwich. All walks come through Eastside Italian Deli, but it’s especially popular on Dodger game days, given its proximity to the stadium. Grab some cannoli while you’re at it.
They introduced hot food to the sandwich menu, adding a stove that allowed for eggplant parmigiana, lasagna and sausage with peppers. Both the recipes and the owners became community fixtures, and while these brothers passed on, their legacy is alive and well. The next generation of Angiuli brothers still serves their same recipes, heaping soft, gargantuan rolls with cold cuts, house-made red sauce draped over pastrami and sausage, and more modern specials like a “The Bear”-inspired take on the Chicago Italian beef sandwich. All walks come through Eastside Italian Deli, but it’s especially popular on Dodger game days, given its proximity to the stadium. Grab some cannoli while you’re at it.
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Canter's, 1931
Beverly Grove Deli
(Canter’s)
When the 1929 stock market crash forced Ben Canter and his two brothers to close their Jersey City deli, they moved to California to start anew. They opened Canter Brother’s Delicatessen in Boyle Heights in 1931, and quickly became a neighborhood fixture for the local Jewish community. The brothers’ success allowed them to expand to a second location on North Fairfax in 1941, and in 1953, after closing the original Boyle Heights outpost, they purchased the more spacious Esquire Theatre up the street, where you’ll still see Canter’s neon-lit sign advertising its 24-hour bakery and deli.
Now run by the third generation of the Canter family, the late-night diner remains as reliable as ever, attracting celebrities, tourists and locals with its Art Deco-inspired interior and classic Jewish American staples such as corned beef hash, pastrami sandwich and matzo ball soup. Next door, the Kibitz Room is a dive bar that hosts karaoke and live bands. Note that takeout is available 24 hours but dine-in is from 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on weekdays and becomes 24 hours from 6 a.m. on Saturday through Sunday night at 11:30 p.m. No matter what you get, stop by the bakery for chocolate chip rugula on the way out.
Now run by the third generation of the Canter family, the late-night diner remains as reliable as ever, attracting celebrities, tourists and locals with its Art Deco-inspired interior and classic Jewish American staples such as corned beef hash, pastrami sandwich and matzo ball soup. Next door, the Kibitz Room is a dive bar that hosts karaoke and live bands. Note that takeout is available 24 hours but dine-in is from 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on weekdays and becomes 24 hours from 6 a.m. on Saturday through Sunday night at 11:30 p.m. No matter what you get, stop by the bakery for chocolate chip rugula on the way out.
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El Coyote, 1931
Fairfax Mexican $$
(Con Keyes/Los Angeles Times)
Husband and wife George and Blanche March opened El Coyote at the corner of 1st Street and La Brea Avenue in 1931. By 1952, the restaurant had outgrown its digs and relocated to its current location, with a red-and-white rooftop sign beckoning diners in. The spacious interior harks back to its origins with burgundy booths, stained-glass light fixtures, Christmas lights that stretch across ceiling beams and autographed headshots of celebrity regulars hung on the walls. The restaurant is also tied to a dark piece of Hollywood history — it served as the final meal for actress Sharon Tate and friends Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger and Wojciech Frykowski before they were murdered by members of the Manson family on Aug. 9, 1969. The scene is re-created in the 2019 film “Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood” using the same booth where Tate and her party were sat.
The menu features crowd-pleasing Mexican American standards, including nachos, burritos and a fajita plate. For me, it’s the house margarita and storied surroundings that make this classic haunt a must visit.
The menu features crowd-pleasing Mexican American standards, including nachos, burritos and a fajita plate. For me, it’s the house margarita and storied surroundings that make this classic haunt a must visit.
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Cielito Lindo, 1934
Downtown L.A. Mexican $
(Lucas Kwan Peterson / Los Angeles Times)
Fortunately, the line at Cielito Lindo usually moves quickly. Customers know exactly what they’re there for: More often than not it’s taquitos by the half-dozen, arranged in neat rows on their plates, blanketed in so much green sauce it is spilling over the rims. The stall of a restaurant on historic Olvera Street has surely sold hundreds of thousands of fried rolled tacos since it was founded by Aurora Guerrero in 1934. Her grandchildren now operate the stand, a legacy business built on Guerrero’s recipe for taquitos that are each the size of a small rolling pin. House-made tortillas are filled with shredded hunks of beef; once fried, the ends are crispy, and as you eat toward the center of the taquito, it’s satisfyingly chewy. You can order a snack of two taquitos for $6.50 or combine them in mixed plates, such as combination No. 1 — three beef taquitos with beans and cheese for $12.50. Taquitos by the dozen can be cooked at home, and the famous avocado-tomatillo sauce is available by the gallon.
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