Hancock Park developer Leo Pustilnikov hopes the 100-year-old iconic restaurant can help change lives
For more than a century, the Original Pantry 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.
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’s cage inside remained unaltered.
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.’s soul, the Pantry refused to die.
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. “The Pantry is an L.A. institution,” he says. “I see it as part of the legacy and history of Downtown and an opportunity to help my residents who could use employment.”
Pustilnikov owns some 2,000 apartments in the area — many purchased last year from the nonprofit Skid Row Housing Trust — 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. “They’re high-paying jobs and I’m trying to provide my residents on Skid Row skills to reenter the workforce.”
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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. “I had a book I was reading,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 2008. “I was very relaxed, and the waiter came over and said, ‘If you want to read, the library’s at Fifth and Hope.’”
“It’s part of the fabric of our city and there’s only a handful of these places left,” says chef George Geary, author of L.A.’s Landmark Restaurants. “When they know your name, it makes you feel warm like they’re family. The Pantry was like that. Weekends were for the tourists but weekdays and late night was for the locals.” The new owner loves the history and architecture of Downtown but had never made his way inside the legendary café. “I’ve driven by. My dad has spoken about it. I heard the hash browns were amazing,” Pustilnikov says. “My first time going there will be when it reopens.”
Chris Nichols
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