The 117-year-old home of the ‘original' French Dip announced it would close. Then business boomed

Los Angeles Times

01-08-2025

Nothing boosts business like going out of business. Or so it seems for Cole's French Dip, L.A.'s oldest restaurant. Its popularity has skyrocketed since its owner announced in early June that he would close for good.
So many customers have shown up at the 117-year-old eatery that, in fact, he's staying, for at least a little while longer.
Proprietor Cedd Moses announced Tuesday that he had reached a deal with his landlord to remain open through mid-September.
It appears that ever-evolving, frequently faddish Los Angeles harbors a nostalgic streak, after all.
Many waiting Tuesday in a line that stretched down 6th Street said they had come for one last taste. Some pined for the pickles. Others the zingy mustard. Still others wanted a slice of the signature cherry pie. A few said they had never been before, but wanted a taste of a signature L.A. dish, before Cole's became an artifact of the past. They heralded the reprieve.
'With all this progress, little bits and pieces are being torn out of the city,' said Douglas Medran, a middle-aged engineer who has been coming to Cole's since he grew up in Silver Lake. 'It's sad to see places like this go, to see part of the folklore of the city go away. I hope they can save it.' Medran was standing on 6th Street, having just powered down a meal that patrons at Cole's have enjoyed since William Howard Taft was in the White House — a French Dip sandwich of USDA prime beef, garnished with a side of au jus, for dipping, and an Atomic pickle. 'It's simplistic, yet beautiful.'
Cole's got its start in 1908 as Cole's Pacific Electric Buffet, named for the Pacific Electric Building in which it's housed. The restaurant claims its chef invented the French Dip when a customer with sore gums asked that his crusty French roll be softened with jus.
For most of the intervening century-plus, Cole's and Phillipe the Original, near Union Station, have both claimed they created the beloved dish.
Longtime downtown resident John Lopez noted how the city had already this year lost the beloved Greek market and eatery, Papa Cristos, and the century-old, 24-7 diner, the Original Pantry.
'We're seeing like a domino effect; all these gems closing,' said Lopez, who first came to Cole's in the 1990s for drinks and rock music and returned Tuesday for what might be a last meal. 'So it was like, God, I better get over there before everything's gone.'
In recent decades, Cole's patch of downtown L.A. has struggled.
Manager Princeton Afeez, brought in to try to bolster business, said Cole's strained to find customers, given the challenges of the neighborhood, the downturn in entertainment industry production and a prolonged lull that began with the COVID-19 pandemic.
But those cares all seemed to fade into the background after the restaurant announced it was closing. No matter what hour the restaurant has opened over the past month — varying from noon to 2 p.m. — Afeez said a line has formed outside the front door.
And the queue has remained long into the evening.
'People are showing a lot of love, a lot of love right now,' said Afeez, a restaurant industry veteran. But Moses, the owner, told The Times: 'We understand people are coming in now to say goodbye, and we can't count on that business being sustainable.'
Today's great photo is from Gina Ferazzi. It depicts protesters with zip ties on their wrists are loaded onto an LAPD bus after being arrested during demonstrations against immigration raids in Los Angeles.
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