The Original Spanish Kitchen was a

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

on Beverly Boulevard in the Fairfax District of

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, US, that became the subject of an

urban legend An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...

starting in the early 1960s. The restaurant, which opened in 1938, was a popular eating spot until it closed in September 1961.

History

Working restaurant

For decades, the Original Spanish Kitchen served meals to Hollywood customers like

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 5 ...

Buster Keaton Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression ...

, Howard Keel and John and

Lionel Barrymore Lionel Barrymore (born Lionel Herbert Blythe; April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American actor of stage, screen and radio as well as a film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''A Free Soul'' (1931) ...

. Opened in the late 1930s, it was a sister restaurant to one downtown, owned by Johnny and Pearl Caretto. Their '' enchiladas'' were an immediate success, attracting show-business personalities as regulars.

Mary Pickford Gladys Marie Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founde ...

, legend has it, had her own booth, by the door, offering up not only autographs to fans, but also recipes to Johnny—which would appear on the menu.

Shuttering and mystery

In 1961, the restaurant closed for vacation—a pause that mysteriously lasted for decades.“Sorry, We’re Closed. For Decades!”, ''Alta''
/ref> Following its closure, the building's contents were left intact for years afterward, the tables remaining set with full

place setting Table setting (laying a table) or place setting refers to the way to set a table with tableware—such as eating utensils and for serving and eating. The arrangement for a single diner is called a place setting. It is also the layout in which th ...

s and the lunch counter fully stocked with coffeemakers and cooking utensils. The restaurant's sudden closure gave rise to speculation and the subsequent urban legend that the owners, who lived in an apartment above the restaurant, were murdered at the hands of

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

. The truth was more prosaic, according to a 1986 article in ''Tables'' magazine by reporter Don Ray. He determined that the owner had been diagnosed with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

and the restaurant had been shuttered by his wife after she found that she was not up to the task of running it.

Epilogue

After nearly forty years in limbo, the building became the site of an upscale beauty salon in 2005. The Original Spanish Kitchen's original vertical electric sign, which had become a Los Angeles landmark over the years, was modified to read simply "SPA", a reference to the new business on the location. Another Spanish Kitchen on the Restaurant Row section of nearby La Cienega Boulevard had a replica of the Original Spanish Kitchen sign on the side of its building, although this is not the original building. The replica of the Spanish Kitchen closed in July 2012. The Original Spanish Kitchen appears briefly in the background of the Michael Nesmith video for his song " Cruisin'", which is part of his " Elephant Parts" compilation, filmed in 1980, and released in 1981. It is in a five-second vignette which accompanies the words, "passing up the treats from a Kid named Cisco", in the second verse of the song.

External links

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References