Verdugo Views

Katherine Yamada

Credit: Courtesy, Special Collections, Glendale Public Library

Caption: The restaurant at the top of Brand Boulevard, which became

famous as Casa Verdugo, reverted to its original name, La Ramada, around

1910.

Casa Verdugo Restaurant, at the end of the Red Car line on Brand

Boulevard, was a wildly popular dining spot for many years.

It was established in 1904 in an old adobe (built by the Verdugo

family) by the same company responsible for bringing the Red Car line up

to the end of Brand.

The proprietors were Mrs. Piedad Yorba de Sowl and her husband,

Charles. They had been running a place in Los Angeles when L.C. Brand,

whose name occurs so frequently in our history, approached them and

persuaded them to come to Glendale and build a dining establishment in

the old adobe, which was on Pacific Electric property.

Originally called La Ramada, the restaurant was inadvertently confused

with the Verdugo Adobe on Bonita after the death of Teodoro Verdugo in

1904, and instead became known as Casa Verdugo. Eventually, the de Sowls

copyrighted the name, forming Casa Verdugo Inc.

Although wine was served at the restaurant, it was a dignified,

family-style resort. When the five-year contract between the de Sowls and

the Pacific Electric Company ran out, the railroad wanted Mrs. de Sowl to

stay open later.

According to an article published by the Glendale Historical Society,

she wanted no part of a roadhouse and refused. The de Sowls left the old

adobe, taking the name of Casa Verdugo Inc. to another location nearby.

The de Sowls went to court in 1910 and sued for $10,000 in damages. In

the complaint, the de Sowls said that Pacific Electric had posted a sign

at the end of the car line stating that Casa Verdugo was closed for

repairs and that this sign had cost them much lost revenue.

After the court decided for the de Sowls, the Pacific Electric went

back to the original name of La Ramada, For awhile, both restaurants

operated in the same area, the de Sowls on Louise and La Ramada in the

old adobe.

The restaurant actually gave its name to the community at the top of

Brand. A writer in 1910 described Casa Verdugo as a beautiful settlement

of 1,200 to 1,500 people at the end of the Glendale trolley line. When

the section was later annexed to Glendale, it was known as Casa Verdugo.

Although advertised as being “out Glendale way,” the restaurant was

actually outside the northern city limit (then at Lexington Avenue).

Glendale was “dry” when the restaurant first opened in 1904, and

continued to be so until the repeal of Prohibition, so part of the

restaurant’s charm was the fact that wine was available at a restaurant

so close to Glendale.

Prohibition, enacted in 1920, proclaimed the death knell for La

Ramada, as wines had been prominent on the menu. The Glendale News

reported on a meeting of insurance agents at La Ramada in July 1920, and

that’s the last known reference to the restaurant.

George Ellison of the Glendale library’s Special Collections Room

speculates that the old adobe was torn down when the area was subdivided.

A reminder of that part of Glendale’s history remains, as the small

staircase where Brand meets Mountain marks the terminus of the old Red

Car line.

KATHERINE YAMADA is a volunteer with the Special Collections Room at

Central Library. To reach her, leave a message at 637-3241. The Special

Collections Room is open from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. Saturdays or by

appointment. For more information on Glendale’s history, contact the

reference desk at the Central Library at 548-2027.