Original Pantry workers are cooking its breakfasts at an East L.A. taqueria
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Good morning. Here’s what you need to know to start your day. I’m Gustavo Arellano, Metro columnist, writing from Orange County and snacking on leftovers from ...
- The Original Pantry Cafe closed after 101 years. Another restaurant has hired some of its workers.
- Two dozen people were rescued due to heat issues during the weekend’s heat wave.
- Exhausted by cardio? This alternative may be key to a better workout.
- And here’s today’s e-newspaper.
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An experiment in culinary nostalgia
Hundreds of Angelenos alternately mourned and feasted when the Original Pantry Cafe closed in March after 101 years. One of those sad eaters was Erika Armenta. After a final meal, the owner of East Los Tacos in East L.A. thought not just about the loss of the institution but also about the 20-some workers — many of whom had worked at the Pantry for decades.
“What can we do for them? What can we do for these people who are losing their jobs in a matter of few days?” Armenta told KNBC-TV in mid-April a few weeks after announcing that she had hired four Original Pantry workers to replicate some of the diner’s greatest breakfast hits at her restaurant.
Nearly a month later, her experiment in culinary nostalgia and empathetic ownership continues in what Armenta has christened East Los Pantry.
She wasn’t in when I visited last week for breakfast. But hustling in the kitchen were Fausto Perez and Vitalino Pablo. Perez, a native of the Mexican state of Puebla, poured perfect circles of pancake batter on the grill and flipped sunny-side eggs in a pan with the ease of a 24-year Pantry line cook veteran. Pablo, a Guatemalan immigrant who worked alongside Perez for 12 years, carefully plated dishes and called out orders to be made.
“Thank God I found a job here because I needed it,” Perez, 58, said in Spanish.
The 47-year-old Pablo nodded. “My motive every day is to echarle ganas” — put in that work.
They apologized for not having much else to say — the breakfast rush was on.
Sitting at a table on his break was another former Pantry worker, Felix Agustin, the sixth hired so far by Armenta. It was his first week.
“This past weekend was really busy, which is good,” the 56-year-old Oaxaca native said. Orders kept getting shouted behind us. The register line kept getting longer. “But not all of our compañeros are working, so I’m also sad.”
The Original Pantry’s owner, the Richard J. Riordan Administrative Trust, shuttered the place after a contract dispute with Unite Here Local 11, the union that represented the restaurant’s workers. The former said the latter’s demand for a contract that guaranteed that any potential new owner would honor it made any sale of the building and restaurant virtually impossible.
The move shocked workers. Many remembered the trust’s namesake, the former L.A. mayor who bought the Original Pantry in 1981 “with union representation,” noted Unite Here Local 11 spokesperson Maria Hernández.
She met me for breakfast and ordered French toast, perfectly lined up on a plate and dusted in powdered sugar like mini-San Gabriels after a snowstorm. Although the union technically no longer represents former Pantry workers, union leaders and members frequent East Los Pantry to support Perez, Pablo, Agustin and the others. They’ve also shown up to actions including a May Day pancake fundraiser for unemployed workers and a small protest on a recent weekend outside the Brentwood home of Riordan’s widow, Elizabeth, during a party.
United Here Local 11 continues to negotiate with the Riordan trust over severance pay for the Pantry’s laid-off staff and is urging them to sell the place to someone who’ll reopen it and hire everyone back.
“The workers still have hope that they can work together again,” Hernandez said. “They’re like a family.”
As an Orange County guy, I had no particular feelings over the closing of the Original Pantry other than it was a shame the workers lost their jobs. But my East Los Pantry breakfast — a massive pancake, a hill of garlic potatoes, chorizo and garlic toast — was what a breakfast should be. The flapjack was fluffy, the taters were crunchy and buttery, the chorizo had a spicy kick, and the pungent sourdough bread crunched. Perez, Pablo and Agustin are doing right by their old job.
East Los Pantry is open from 7 in the morning until 2 in the afternoon (East Los Tacos continues for the rest of the day into the night). Between them, La Azteca Tortilleria and La Carreta, the corner of Avenida Cesar E. Chavez and Ford Boulevard is as great a stretch of breakfast in L.A. as you’ll find right now. Let your panzas grow!
Today’s top stories
Unbearable heat
- Two dozen people were rescued due to heat issues during the weekend’s heat wave.
- The heat finally broke Saturday night.
- Look forward to a week of light rain and “May gray” in Los Angeles.
State Farm is under pressure over wildfire claims
- California’s insurance commissioner signaled a possible inquiry into State Farm’s handling of L.A. wildfire claims.
- Victims of the Eaton fire called for an investigation into State Farm over delays and violations.
- “They’re being so stingy with everything,” one policyholder told The Times.
- California’s insurance commissioner has faced criticism for his ties to the insurance industry.
A sewer in Malibu?
- Malibu became a city in 1991 largely to block sewers and the rampant growth they threatened to bring. The wildfires may have changed the equation.
- Speaking of Malibu, should its coastal homes be rebuilt even as the ocean rises?
Network news is in flux
- Anchor changes are disrupting one of the last true habits of traditional TV viewing.
- Bill Owens resigned as executive producer of “60 Minutes.”
- CBS News named two new anchors for its evening news show.
- Lester Holt will leave “NBC Nightly News” this month.
The great big elephant controversy
- An L.A. resident has sued to stop the transfer of L.A. Zoo elephants Billy and Tina to the Tulsa Zoo.
- Activists and some City Council members want the elephants to go to a sanctuary instead.
- Two other elephants recently died within the span of one year at the L.A. Zoo.
What else is going on
- Amid a listeria outbreak, an L.A. company pulled its food from shelves
- California voters have sharply differing views on the state’s two most prominent Black Democrats, according to a new poll.
- Trump wants to attack drug cartels. How can Mexico respond if he does?
- One person was killed and 32 were injured in a fiery crash involving a tour bus and an SUV in Hacienda Heights.
- Antelope Valley residents say they are fed up with rampant dumping and inaction by officials.
- Just two of more than 300 protesters at L.A. campuses are facing charges, an outcome that has stirred anger and accusations.
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Commentary and opinions
- A painful truth, according to columnist Bill Plaschke: The Lakers must trade Austin Reaves.
- An executive order closed a tariff loophole that benefited Chinese fast-fashion online retailers, much to the dismay of columnist Robin Abcarian’s niece.
- An AI Agatha Christie? The best-selling novelist of all time deserves better than that, argues columnist Mary McNamara.
- Burned lots in L.A. will sit empty for decades unless Congress tweaks the tax code, argue contributors Christopher Cox and Hank Adler.
This morning’s must reads
How a Mojave Desert footrace became a showcase for L.A. County Sheriff’s Department turmoil. The Baker to Vegas relay is a law enforcement tradition. This year it was a showcase for turmoil in the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department.
Other must reads
- Trump’s attacks on transgender Americans are a test in the California governor’s race.
- NASCAR goes to the dogs: Here’s why many drivers bring their dogs to every race.
How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.
For your downtime
Going out
- 🏃Exhausted by cardio? This alternative may be key to a better workout.
- 🥪 The best pastrami dip sandwich in the city may be at this Westlake deli.
Staying in
- 🧑🍳 This Salvadoran cookbook made history with a Beard nomination.
- 📖 In Ocean Vuong’s melancholy “Emperor of Gladness,” happiness is elusive and the American Dream, out of reach.
- 🥗 Here’s a recipe for yellow lentil curry.
- ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games.
A question for you: What’s your favorite karaoke song?
Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.
And finally ... your photo of the day
Today’s great photo is from photographer Andre Herrero, taken for Image Magazine’s photo essay: Dental offices don’t need to be sterile holding pens. This Beverly Hills project is plush, pink and magical.
Have a great day, from the Essential California team
Gustavo Arellano, California columnist
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
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