Pasadena it is!

It's official - we've signed a lease in Pasadena! After months of the CRA pulling on our heartstrings regarding timing of a construction loan, our personal bank accounts decided we had to get a move on things and figure out how to get this restaurant off the ground. Always an avid reader of loopnet.com, I sent a flurry of inquiries for existing restaurant spaces that even remotely fitted our criteria (yes, one space was 8k SF, but it was divisible...)

Just days before we left for Spain, I heard from a broker regarding what must be one of the most charming restaurants in Pasadena. The current tenant was a one Michelin-starred Northern Italian restaurant, and the owners had decided not to renew the lease (which expired at the end of October). We scheduled a walk-through, submitted an LOI, and left for Spain in the span of a few days!

In hindsight it was really healthy to have the time off, but not having easy phone access to the broker during those few weeks was painful for my nerves. Right when we got back, however, we were in lease negotiations and signed shortly after the space was available. There were many other details such as the scramble to get our LLC Agreement ironed out, the fact that we started without reaching our fund-raising goal, etc but those stories are for another day. What is important is that Ración has a home!

100 Years on Broadway

As part of the Bringing Back Broadway initiative, the Palace Theatre opened its doors after a recent renovation to showcase a history of Broadway as the former entertainment and commercial capital of Los Angeles. Incidentally, this summer marks the 100th anniversary of the Palace, which opened in 1911 for vaudeville and eventually, film.

From 1910 to 1931, 12 theaters were built on Broadway from 3rd to 9th Streets. They served as music halls, vaudeville and movie theaters, and even a "legitimate" dramatic theater. Many of them were extravagant and ornate, and each tried to trump previously built theaters in detail, seating capacity, or sheer height. The entryway to the Palace characterized the sometimes European castle, sometimes fairytale, sometimes gothic architectural tastes of the period.


I especially enjoyed the lighting underneath the balcony. The light bulbs had carbon filaments, which created a charming and romantic feel as you sat underneath them in the orchestra. The detail on the glass wasn't lost on me either.


In the hundred years since theaters started going up on Broadway, most of the theaters had been shut down at one point or another due to financial issues. Movie theaters were especially hard hit after WWII when city residents started relocating to suburbs and legislation separated ownership of movie studios and movie theaters. As the theaters struggled in their independence, many came to rely on Spanish-language films to help fill their seats. Broadway soon became a vivid entertainment center with restaurants, shopping areas, and movie places for the immigrant community.

As Broadway enters a new phase of revitalization, it is clear that Broadway is drifting away from its swap-meet, bridal shop, food stall identity and towards the general gentrification taking over Downtown LA. What sets Broadway apart, however, is the pervasive desire to cling to its historical roots. Whether these roots will manifest in a robust (English or Spanish-speaking) entertainment district, art center, food hub, or all of the above is yet to be determined. After learning a brief history of the area today, I'm just super excited that Ración gets to be part of whatever it decides to be.

The home of Ración

A few weeks after fruitlessly seeking retail spaces on foot and on loopnet, some of our downtown dwelling friends told us to check out the up-and-coming area along the Broadway Corridor. Driving around, I found a promising retail space at the Blackstone Lofts and decided to take Teresa to scope it out that same night. As we were poking around, she noticed For Lease signs going up in the windows across the street. The spaces were part of the historic Eastern Columbia Building, gorgeous at 11 o'clock at night.


For some very lucky reason, the current tenants Mark and Lisa were just settling into the space with their gallery and had the doors open as they worked. We wandered in, and immediately found common ground on the beauty of the space and the emotionality of the artwork. Something in the explanation of our restaurant concept must have resonated with them because not only did they show us the adjacent retail space (which was smaller, and ultimately what we set our sights on), but they showed us the loft that they owned, and called the owner of the retail space the next morning on our behalf. Within a few days, we had met with the owner and brokers and had an LOI in the works!

When we embarked on our effort to find a space for our restaurant, I had no idea what to look for, what to negotiate, how to phrase my negotiations. With the help of MANY friends (lawyers, architects, designers, business owners and operators, local residents) we pieced together a few documents that made sense to us and the nature of our business. Though not without a few painful moments, the process of finding our restaurant spot is exactly what I envision for Ración: a combination of a little luck, a gut reaction that this just feels right, and the combined interest of a whole group of very cool people.