Cole's Pacific Electric Buffet, also known as Cole's P.E. Buffet, is a

restaurant A restaurant is an establishment 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 Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...

and bar located at 118 East 6th Street in the Historic Core district of downtown

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, the oldest operating in Los Angeles at the same location since its founding. Cole's was founded in 1908 by Henry Cole on the ground floor of the Pacific Electric Building, which served as the main terminal for the Pacific Electric Railway. Cole's unique table tops were made from the varnished doors of retired Red Cars of the Pacific Electric Railway. The tables were removed as part of the 2007-2008 renovation and were reportedly relocated to the developer's nearby corporate headquarters above Clifton's Cafeteria. The restaurant claims (along with

Philippe's Philippe's, or "Philippe the Original" ( ) is a restaurant located in downtown Los Angeles, California. The restaurant is well known for continuously operating since 1908, making it one of the oldest restaurants in Los Angeles. It is also ren ...

) that the first French dip sandwich was served at Cole's in the same year. Some have suggested that Philippe's is the original, as the sandwich was named "French" dip because of the original proprietor Philippe Mathieu's French heritage. However, according to carvers at Cole's, Henry Cole first dipped the French bread in ''jus'' at the request of a customer who had had recent dental work. The French bread was too hard and it hurt this customer's teeth, so Henry dipped the bread in order to soften it. Other customers, with perfectly good teeth, saw Henry dip the bread and requested that he do the same for them - and thus the French dip was born. Other theories exist, so debate is likely to continue. Henry Cole also operated Los Angeles's first check cashing service from the restaurant. Henry Cole was later arrested in 1942 by the

Federal Government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

for fraud. Cole's was designated a

Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments are sites which have been designated by the Los Angeles, California, Cultural Heritage Commission as worthy of preservation based on architectural, historic and cultural criteria. History The Historic-Cul ...

in 1989. The location resembles the bar from ''

Who Framed Roger Rabbit ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' is a 1988 American fantasy comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis from a screenplay written by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman. It is loosely based on the 1981 novel ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'' by Gary K. Wol ...

'', complete with reference to “French dip” on menu.

Note on new corporate owner

Cole's had boasted being the oldest restaurant and bar in the city of Los Angeles continuously operated from the same location—until a shutdown for major remodeling on March 15, 2007. The restaurant's new corporate owner, Pouring with Heart's Cedd Moses, was quoted in the ''

Los Angeles Downtown News The ''Los Angeles Downtown News'' is a free weekly newspaper in Los Angeles, California, serving the Downtown Los Angeles area. The newspaper focuses on general news with an emphasis on real estate and business along with coverage of the arts s ...

'', saying the restaurant would reopen in time for its 100th anniversary in January 2008; however, the project was delayed, and Cole's finally reopened in December 2008.

References

External links

*{{official website, http://www.colesfrenchdip.com 1908 establishments in California American companies established in 1908 Buildings and structures in Downtown Los Angeles History of Los Angeles Landmarks in Los Angeles Culture of Los Angeles Restaurants established in 1908 Restaurants in Los Angeles