Original Spanish Kitchen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Original Spanish Kitchen was a restaurant on Beverly Boulevard in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, California that became the subject of an urban legend starting in the early 1960s.
The restaurant, which opened in the mid-1940s, was a popular eating spot until September 1961, when the Original Spanish Kitchen closed for good. [1] What made the closing of the restaurant so unusual was the combination of its success and the fact that the building's contents were left totally intact for years afterward.
Looking in the window of the Original Spanish Kitchen was like looking through time. The tables were set with full placesettings and the lunch counter was totally stocked with coffeemakers and cooking utensils. The sudden closure of the restaurant gave rise to speculation and the subsequent urban legend that the owners, who lived in an apartment above the restaurant, met with a rather unpleasant end at the hands of organized crime, though this was never verified.
After nearly forty years in limbo, the building is now the site of Privé, Laurent Duforg's upscale beauty salon. 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. [2]Another Spanish Kitchen, now open on nearby La Cienega Boulevard, has an exact replica of the sign on the side of their building—despite it not being the original Original Spanish Kitchen.
