6 days ago
ICE Raids, Protests, and Curfews Devastated This Popular Arts District Restaurant
Popular Los Angeles restaurant LA Cha Cha Chá will close its doors for good this fall, likely in September or October. Owner Alejandro Marín confirmed the sudden decision to close one of the Arts District's most prominent restaurants in a phone call last week, blaming federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, subsequent protests, deployment of National Guard and U.S. Marines, and Mayor Karen Bass's curfew.
While Marín wasn't against the protests, the activity just a mile away from the Arts District restaurant led to a sudden drop in customers who have not returned. On July 29, it became apparent to Marín that the mathematical reality of the situation was undeniable, each day's losses inching the business towards the point of no return. 'I've been running the numbers and have decided we just can't continue,' says Mariń. The other restaurants owned by the group, such as Loreto and Santa Canela, will carry on, but LA Cha Cha Chá has succumbed to the external pressures brought on by the ICE raids. 'We will stay open for a couple of months, maybe three, and that will be it.'
On June 6, the first ICE raid in Downtown Los Angeles at a Fashion District factory set off a mass protest in response. With LA Cha Cha Chá just blocks away from the protests and the Metropolitan Detention Center, where undocumented immigrants and even U.S. citizens were being detained, the restaurant once again had to close its doors. 'A few days after everything started, we closed because no one was coming in and things were getting out of hand,' says executive chef Paco Morán. The protests drew a harsh response from the Los Angeles Police Department, including violent clashes that included the deployment of tear gas and nonlethal projectiles on protestors. Opportunists exacerbated the situation, with some reports of looting and setting Waymo cars on fire, which the Trump administration used to justify the deployment of 4,000 National Guard members and 2,000 U.S. Marines to quell civil unrest, a move that Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass strongly opposed.
Hanging Mexican-style lamps above the LA Cha Cha Chá dining room.
'Our response to it was to find a way to support the people that were protesting because we stand against the raids, not just because we're Latinos and Mexicans, but because we're human,' says Marín. LA Cha Cha Chá offered free meals to protestors, and allowed any staff who felt unsafe to stay home. Like many restaurants, they posted signs that read 'Employees only' in case ICE entered the premises. But even as the protests diminished, Downtown's reputation as a dining destination was tarnished.
To make matters worse, mayor Karen Bass imposed a temporary curfew that cut into LA Cha Cha Chá's busiest service hours the following week. 'In all, we had to close down for around 10 days,' says Morán. The severity of the protests was downplayed in the media as being only one square mile of Downtown LA, and that as long as locals and tourists steered clear of the protest zone, they would be fine. However, the Arts District's once-vibrant restaurant scene had shut down.
'After June, it seemed like everyone was avoiding Downtown, and we don't see tourists anymore,' Marín told Eater on July 23, days before deciding to close in the fall. 'I got into this business because I fell in love with the magic and the romance of what food can be,' says Morán. 'To be honest with you, I'm not enjoying it as much as I used to.'
'I got into this business because I fell in love with the magic and the romance of food. To be honest with you, I'm not enjoying it as much as I used to' — PAco morán, executive chef of LA cha cha ChÁ
When it opened in the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, it seemed like LA Cha Cha Chá had cracked the code to operating a successful modern Mexican restaurant in Los Angeles. Where earlier Mexico-based restaurant groups had struggled to win the LA audience, with restaurants like Verlaine and Tintorera closing shortly after opening, LA Cha Cha Chá swiftly became a favorite of post-lockdown revenge spenders seeking open-air patios and dining terraces. A menu of spicy and fruity margaritas, bracing aguachiles, and rockfish al pastor tacos, plus an iconic churro dish, resonated with Angelenos. The owners had done their homework.
When Mexico City restaurateurs and former high school mates Marín, Javier Hernández Pons, and Jorge Salim set their sights on the lucrative Los Angeles market in 2017, the restaurant business was booming here. That's when Marín moved to Los Angeles to take a closer look at the restaurant scene that had emerged in the 2010s, with an endless appetite for diverse cuisines. In December 2019, the group behind Mexico City's Palmares Azotea and Cha Cha Chá signed the lease for LA Cha Cha Chá, inspired by their gorgeous Colonia Tabacalera terrace space with a view of Monumento a La Revolución. They now operate four restaurants in Los Angeles: LA Cha Cha Chá, Za Za Zá, Loreto, and Santa Canela.
LA Cha Cha Chá's rooftop terrace in the Arts District was the ideal location for a sister restaurant, serving simple Mexican food and refreshing margaritas that resonated with locals. 'I felt confident opening up a restaurant here because I realized that Los Angeles, as they say, is the second largest city in Mexico,' says Marín. LA Cha Cha Chá began construction in January 2020; on March 15, 2020, LA Mayor Eric Garcetti ordered restaurants to close for dine-in service in response to the global pandemic.
Octopus tostada.
Finally, a year later, LA Cha Cha Chá opened the rooftop for dine-in service at partial capacity, with a set of mandated guidelines, including social distancing, providing hand sanitizer stations, and requiring employees to wear masks, among other safeguards. And it was a near-instant smash hit. 'I think it was a combination of many things, and around that time, Downtown was living through a sort of Renaissance,' says Marín. A 360-degree view of the LA skyline, surrounded by succulents and palm plants while sipping delicious margaritas, didn't hurt.
In subsequent years, LA Cha Cha Chá thrived despite the closure of some of Los Angeles's most prominent restaurants, including All Day Baby, Cassia, and Animal. Through post-pandemic inflation, the 2023 writers' and actors' strikes, and the 2025 wildfires, the crowd always returned to LA Cha Cha Chá. Adapting and pivoting over the years, the owners were feeling optimistic in May 2025. Weekend sales were back to expectations, after having closed for three weeks in January due to the wildfires. They attempted to lure customers back midweek with incentives like extended happy hours. 'After that, we thought, we survived, we're good, and then we get ICE terrorizing the city with these raids,' says Marín.
Morán also expressed deep concern over the fate of his over 100 employees across the four restaurants he supervises, a majority of whom are Latino. 'I come from immigrant parents,' says Morán, 'My dad is a gardener and has been here in the U.S. for 20 years, and it's still a scary thought. He might get pulled over and hauled away only because the guy's mowing somebody's lawn.'
LA Cha Cha Chá will continue to operate from Tuesday to Wednesday, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., Thursday from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday to Saturday from 12 p.m. to 11 p.m. and is located at 812 East Third Street, Arts District, CA, 90013.
LA Cha Cha Chá in the Arts District.
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