After 101 years, the doors close on L.A.’s Original Pantry Cafe

Downtown Los Angeles on Sunday lost another iconic eatery with the closure of the Original Pantry Cafe, which had been serving up hot coffee, burgers and breakfast platters since 1924.

News of the planned closure drew brisk business as patrons sought a farewell meal at the diner on the corner of 9th and South Figueroa streets.

The shuttering itself was bitter. Once doors were closed, the diner’s remaining 25 workers gathered inside, received manila envelopes containing their final checks and, with support from their labor union, refused to leave.

“It’s still open from their perspective,” said Kurt Petersen, co-president of the Unite Here Local 11 labor union that Petersen said had represented workers at the diner for decades. “They told management they want them to change their mind.”

The restaurant built its Los Angeles legacy not on elegant fare (it had a mediocre 3.7 rating on Yelp) but on its 24-hour service, making it a haven for night owls and early risers.

The diner had survived past threats. It dodged a freeway project in the 1950s, moving its location to make way for an off-ramp. Former Mayor Richard Riordan took over the restaurant in 1981 as part of a larger land deal.

“When I fell in love with the Pantry, I was at breakfast, drinking coffee, and I had a book I was reading,” Riordan was quoted as saying in The Times. “I was very relaxed and the waiter came over and said, ‘If you want to read, the library’s at 5th and Hope.’ I fell in love with it right then.”

But the isolation policies of the COVID-19 pandemic delivered a heavy blow, forcing the diner to limit its hours. Despite $1.7 million in federal loans (all but $500,000 of it forgiven) to preserve 82 jobs at the restaurant, workers said only about two dozen employees remained by Sunday’s closure.

Los Angeles court records show a proposed class-action lawsuit was filed in April 2023 on behalf of Pantry workers alleging unpaid wages for overtime, rest and meal breaks. Two weeks later, Riordan died. The wage case remained in settlement talks as recently as February, filings show.

Ownership of the diner transferred to Riordan’s trust, which said it sought to sell the asset to support its philanthropic endeavors. The union attempted to negotiate terms that would require any new owner to honor the existing contract. That didn’t happen, and the labor union filed a grievance with the National Labor Relations Board.

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Attorney Carl McKinzie, chief executive officer of the trust’s company that operates the Pantry, declined comment on Sunday. He referred a reporter to a lengthy prepared statement given to media earlier in the week saying sales talks have been ongoing since last summer.

After the diner’s doors closed Sunday, a representative of the trust arrived and attempted to distribute envelopes containing final paychecks. When workers would not step up to take them, she set them on a table.

“They left the envelope on the table and left out the back,” said a table server who gave only his first name, Alex. He said he had been employed at the diner 24 years. “No thank you. She don’t say nothing.”

When workers attempted to stay behind, management called L.A. police, and officers eventually arrived to tell employees they faced trespass charges if they remained. The Pantry’s workers left without incident, but Petersen from the union remained and was issued a citation, a union representative said.

Alex was not certain what might happen next week, other than that the union would have people out front with placards and signs. Union officials said they did not know if there was already a new owner in the wings.

The Pantry’s online ordering service remained operational Sunday. A Times reporter was able to put in a takeout order for French toast first thing Wednesday.