Los Angeles’s iconic Pantry Cafe is currently set to close on March 2nd.
The Pantry Cafe has been open twenty-four-hours a day for the last hundred years and is currently owned by former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan’s Trust. After the cafe’s announcement to close, UNITE HERE Local 11 filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations board, alleging that the cafe violated federal labor laws by threatening to close.
UNITE HERE Local 11 represents 32,000 workers employed in hotels, restaurants, and other establishments throughout Southern California and Arizona, including the Pantry Cafe. The organization has been in negotiations with the Trust for the last few months when it announced the cafe would possibly be sold. The choice to close it entirely instead came as a response to the unionization efforts.
Maria Hernandez, the communications coordinator for UNITE HERE Local 11, commented on the threat this closure has on workers.
“The workers here at the pantry have been here for 20, 30, some, even 40 years, and really what they’re advocating for is a federal union contract.” Hernandez said, “The biggest thing right now is that workers are asking for is the opportunity to keep their jobs and keep their union.”
This morning, long time patrons and supporters of the Pantry Cafe workers gathered for a dine-in organized by UNITE HERE Local 11. Outside, in a line that went around the block, Javier, a Pantry Cafe regular, said he’s sad to see it close.
“It’s an icon. I first came here with my father when I was, like, around five years old, and I was coming here with my younger brothers, about my wife and my girls here, you know? So it’s like, a traditional thing, family to family,” he said.
Workers and customers alike are unwilling to see the historic cafe close. In an effort to gain support and raise awareness, UNITE HERE Local 11 workers handed out pamphlets and shared with people in line the importance of keeping the restaurant open.
Hernandez shared her hopes for the dine-in, saying, “We’ve been out here all morning. The line has been down the block consistently, and it’s just been great to see the solidarity and people come together to hopefully tell the, you know, the trust and the owners that they hope that the workers get what they’re asking for. So it’s been really great to just see the community come together in support of these workers.”
Hernandez urged that this landmark needs to remain open.
“It’s more important now more than ever, to keep these institutions that make L.A. what it is, so that everybody that comes from across the world is able to experience them and cherish them. And more than anything, you know, have the opportunity to eat some of the great pancakes here,” she said.
Despite the potential close, Javier, like many Pantry Cafe regulars, remains hopeful.
In a closing remark, he said “I really hope it stays open, like I said, for other families to be able to enjoy on the line, my girls be able to come here later on their own and bring their kids. So at 100 years old, it’s been around this long for a reason, people like it.”