L.A's Influential Restaurants of Yore, and Some Still Carrying the Torch

Katherine Spiers -

This is a paid edition of How to Eat L.A. Thank you for being a subscriber! You can reply to this email.

The history of restaurants and what they tell us about the culture of a place is absolutely the most interesting aspect, to me, of food writing. So I'm going to dedicate this bi-weekly column to the restaurants that built Los Angeles, whether they carried the entertainment industry or gave light to our subcultures. I've got a thing going with the classic television show Columbo that I'll start publishing shortly.

To kick off, here is a collection of articles that works as a great overview by Hadley Meares, tireless L.A. culture reporter and dear friend.

How Chinese Restaurants Shaped Tiki Culture In LA
Here, in a paper-thin egg roll wrapper, is the tension at the heart of culture, cuisine and commerce in the U.S.
LAistHadley Meares
The Brown Derby: Hollywood’s 24-Hour Office Party
From the opening of the first Brown Derby (the famous hat building) on Wilshire Boulevard in 1926, it was a decidedly Hollywood establishment.
KCETHadley Meares
The Legacy Of LA’s Black-Owned Restaurants
Though early records are murky due to a lack of primary source historical records, we can piece together a legacy of Black-owned restaurants in Los Angeles stretching back to 1888.
LAistHadley Meares
Thelma Todd and Preston Sturges had fun moonlighting as restaurateurs in the Golden Age of Hollywood
Historian Hadley Meares uncovers two of LA’s earliest celebrity restaurants.
KCRWEvan Kleiman
The Formosa Café: The Grungy Glamour of a West Hollywood Icon
It may be a tiny place, but since its beginning this re-purposed trolley car was packed with big Hollywood personalities.
KCETHadley Meares

Here's a more recent article about the Formosa that includes the most recent ownership and has some real nice photos.

If you'd like to visit some extant restaurants with long histories, here's a list from Eater LA.

Hit the subscribe button on the right side of the screen to see the tiers and rewards, including personalized restaurant recommendations.

See the map of all How to Eat L.A. picks here.