Los Angeles has historic restaurants in every corner of the city, and I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of writing about them. This installment of Historic LA Restaurants includes drag shows, life-size replicas of military airplanes, a centuries-old Japanese pagoda, and one of the highest-rated burritos in the entire country.
Silver Lake
Casita del Campo. Photo copyright 2019 by Anna Boudinot
Rudy del Campo was a professional dancer, performing on Broadway and in Las Vegas, before appearing as a Shark in West Side Story in 1961. He used some of the money he earned from the movie to open Casita del Campo a year later. He and his wife Nina devoted their lives to serving made-from-scratch Mexican favorites like tamales and carnitas; the restaurant is still in the family and their original recipes are served to this day. The brightly-decorated space spans several rooms that feel like individual casitas: one has a giant tree stretching to the skylights, another is dark and filled with cozy, private, high-backed booths. In the basement is a theater that hosts drag shows several nights a month. The margaritas are not to be ignored, nor is the guacamole.
El Segundo
The Proud Bird. Photo copyright 2019 by Anna Boudinot
We’ve covered the Sharks, now let’s move on to the jets. The Proud Bird was built in 1967 by a former WWII pilot, just a block away from LAX’s runway. It’s the perfect spot for pilots and civilians alike to gaze through the floor-to-ceiling windows and watch planes land. Charles Lindbergh, Neil Armstrong, and other aviation greats dined there when The Proud Bird was a traditional steakhouse. The restaurant closed for a sixteen-month renovation in 2015 and reopened in 2017 as a food hall. The space also has museum exhibits dedicated to the Tuskegee Airmen (whose largest chapter of veterans was in Los Angeles), the Aztec Eagles, and LA’s extensive aviation history. Grab some tasty BBQ from Bludso’s, then walk among replicas of historical aircraft in the large back lawn and listen to the roar of jets overhead.
Hollywood Hills
Yamashiro Restaurant. Photo copyright 2019 by Anna Boudinot
Yamashiro didn’t start out as a restaurant. It was the opulent mansion of two brothers who made a fortune importing goods from Asia into the US and who had a thing for Asian art and décor. They didn’t really adhere to a single architectural style – the estate, built in 1914, is a mishmash of Chinese, Japanese, and other Asian influences – but it’s stunning nonetheless. The 600-year-old pagoda on site was flown in from Japan and remains the oldest structure currently standing in California. Other curiosities included a pond for black swans, a tunnel from the main house to a “monkey house,” and rooms filled with priceless antiques. (See some really cool old photos here.) Over the years, Yamashiro was a social club for the Hollywood elite, then a boys school, then an apartment complex, before opening as a Cal-Asian fusion restaurant. (Read about its full history here.) The dining room has one of the most spectacular views in Los Angeles.
Boyle Heights
Al & Bea’s is a legendary Mexican restaurant with a relatively simple menu. It opened in 1966 as the neighborhood was transitioning from Jewish to Mexican (Canter’s was once located nearby). Its proprietors, Albert and Beatrice Carreon, lived in the house behind it and still operate the restaurant to this day. Their website says “They opened with a simple dream of bringing their authentic homemade recipes to serve a community with high demand for good genuine Mexican food.” “Good” is an understatement: the food is incredible. They make one of the best burritos in the entire country. It’s a homey type of place where you order at a window, pay in cash because they don’t accept cards, and sit at a table outside. Not knowing their burrito reputation, I ordered an “everything” taco: shredded beef, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and guacamole in a deep-fried corn tortilla. As I tried to gauge how much food I was ordering, I asked the cashier how big the tacos were. He deadpanned, "The size of a regular-sized corn tortilla, folded in half." Then he got a tortilla and folded it for me for emphasis. I completely deserved that. And the taco was delicious.
For more historic Los Angeles restaurants, read Volume I and Volume II.