Famous restaurants in Los Angeles (LA) in the United States are closing one after another. After enduring major hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic, they have suffered a severe blow to sales as large wildfires that broke out early this year and nighttime curfews imposed during sweeping immigration enforcement by the Donald Trump administration in June overlapped.
Chifa, a popular restaurant in downtown LA, is set to shut down in October. Alejandro Marin, a co-owner of Chifa, said in a call with the U.S. food magazine Eater, "I don't oppose the protests in response to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, but customers suddenly dropped off after protests erupted just 1 mile from the restaurant and they didn't come back," adding, "Daily losses are pushing the business to a point of no return."
The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 11th, "Restaurant closures, with thin margins and sensitivity to consumer flows, are not all that rare, but LA's dining industry is in a worse financial situation than other cities," adding, "Every week brings announcements that famous restaurants are being sold or shutting down." According to the NYT, the list of shuttered restaurants includes places like Bicyclette Bistro and Father's Office, which had drawn attention for numerous reviews and long lines.
Given LA's nature of spanning 88 cities, it is difficult to compile precise closure statistics. Still, according to the Independent Restaurant Coalition, 100 of roughly 29,000 restaurants in the LA area closed last year, and an additional 50 are estimated to have shut down this year. Stein, who has worked in the LA restaurant industry since 1998, said, "There has never been a time when LA's dining scene was as difficult as it is now. We are going through a continued period of decline."
The reasons for the wave of closures among LA restaurants are multifaceted. First, the large wildfires that broke out early this year fired the opening salvo of the shutdowns. Because the massive fires in January, which burned more than 15,000 structures to the ground, kept LA residents at home as during the pandemic. Cassia, a famed restaurant in Santa Monica, announced its closure in February, saying, "We were able to enjoy a wonderful 10 years by weathering the pandemic, but like many restaurants, we have faced new challenges in recent years," citing rising operating costs, the Hollywood strikes, and the wildfires.
On top of that, the imposition of nighttime curfews in June as part of the sweeping immigration crackdown dealt a direct blow to LA restaurants already struggling financially. Chad Colby, owner of Antico Nuovo in LA's Koreatown, said, "While protests against the immigration raids were taking place, downtown felt extremely threatening for customers to come dine," adding, "People go to restaurants to celebrate or savor life's joyful moments, but during the protests many had no choice but to avoid dining out."
Here's Looking At You in LA's Koreatown closed for 17 months during the pandemic, then raised funds and reopened in early 2022. But as the Hollywood strikes, wildfires, and immigration crackdown piled up, it ultimately shut down completely in June. The restaurant's owner, Lien Ta, also closed another restaurant in Silver Lake in May, saying, "While the rest of the United States and the world recovered bit by bit, LA actually took a step back."
Even restaurants with more than a century of history could not escape the impact of the curfews. Said Moses, the owner of Coles, a 117-year-old restaurant that closed last month, said, "Because of the curfew, we had to stop operating for a full week," adding, "That was essentially the last straw for us. We had barely been hanging on this year, and then the wildfires hit and the protests followed."
As restaurant closures increase in LA, long regarded as one of America's leading food cities, concerns are rising that the local economy could be shaken. According to the California Employment Development Department (EDD), 369,100 restaurant jobs have disappeared from July 2019, just before the pandemic, to July this year. That is a 5.1% decrease, in stark contrast to overall job growth in the nonfarm sector over the same period.
Even in this situation, the restaurant industry is not letting go of hope. The NYT reported, "Southern California has long experienced sharp economic swings," adding, "Restaurant owners are hopeful that this, too, will fade with time, that burned areas will be rebuilt, and that recovery will come with the 2028 Olympics."