{"id":475321,"date":"2025-12-27T16:54:34","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T16:54:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/475321\/"},"modified":"2025-12-27T16:54:34","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T16:54:34","slug":"downtown-las-original-pantry-set-to-reopen-with-original-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/475321\/","title":{"rendered":"Downtown LA\u2019s Original Pantry Set to Reopen With Original Staff"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hancock Park developer Leo Pustilnikov hopes the 100-year-old iconic restaurant can help change lives<\/p>\n

For more than a century, the Original Pantry<\/a> at the corner of 9th and Figueroa was an L.A. icon that drew a cross section of our culture. Famous faces from Humphrey Bogart to Kim Kardashian rubbed elbows with tourists, office workers and the occasional ex-con at the all-night hash house. <\/p>\n

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The Original Pantry in 2024Credit: Photo by Chris Nichols<\/p>\n

When they powered down the grill for the last time on March 2, there was a hotcake-sized hole in the heart of Los Angeles. Members of the no-nonsense crew in their starched shirts and bow ties fed L.A. through the Great Depression, World War II and urban renewal. Downtown changed all around but the counter stools and cashier\u2019s cage inside remained unaltered. <\/p>\n

\"\"The original Original Pantry was located a couple blocks west before moving to its current location in 1950.Credit: Photo by Art Streib Studio\/Wiki<\/p>\n

After the shutdown, those dedicated employees refused to leave. Soon they were back flipping pancakes for customers on the sidewalk. Some of them relocated over the river to East Los Tacos rebranding it East Los Pantry. After so many generations spent working its way into L.A.\u2019s soul, the Pantry refused to die. <\/p>\n

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The Original Pantry in 2024Credit: Photo by Chris Nichols<\/p>\n

Enter Hancock Park real estate investor Leo Pustilnikov, who purchased the property in September and announced a deal with the labor union representing the staff to reopen by the end of the year with much of the original crew. \u201cThe Pantry is an L.A. institution,\u201d he says. \u201cI see it as part of the legacy and history of Downtown and an opportunity to help my residents who could use employment.\u201d <\/p>\n

Pustilnikov owns some 2,000 apartments in the area \u2014 many purchased last year from the nonprofit Skid Row Housing Trust \u2014 as well as the Alexandria Hotel, PacMutual building and the art deco Sears building in Boyle Heights. The returning workforce will be joined by new hires who are tenants in his buildings. \u201cThey\u2019re high-paying jobs and I\u2019m trying to provide my residents on Skid Row skills to reenter the workforce.\u201d <\/p>\n

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\"\"Original Pantry owner Leo PustilnikovCredit: Photo by Irvin Rivera<\/p>\n

Pustilnikov acquired the business from the heirs of Richard Riordan. The former L.A. mayor purchased the land and the business in 1981 and liked to tell the story of how he fell in love with the place. \u201cI had a book I was reading,\u201d he told the Los Angeles Times in 2008. \u201cI was very relaxed, and the waiter came over and said, \u2018If you want to read, the library\u2019s at Fifth and Hope.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s part of the fabric of our city and there\u2019s only a handful of these places left,\u201d says chef George Geary, author of L.A.\u2019s Landmark Restaurants<\/a>. \u201cWhen they know your name, it makes you feel warm like they\u2019re family. The Pantry was like that. Weekends were for the tourists but weekdays and late night was for the locals.\u201d The new owner loves the history and architecture of Downtown but had never made his way inside the legendary caf\u00e9. \u201cI\u2019ve driven by. My dad has spoken about it. I heard the hash browns were amazing,\u201d Pustilnikov says. \u201cMy first time going there will be when it reopens.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Original Pantry in 2024Credit: Photo by Chris Nichols<\/p>\n