Closure of Banquette Cafe Brings an End to Unique Social Space
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Bring up Banquette Cafe with people who have spent time around Downtown’s Old Bank District, and you’re not likely to hear them bring up a specific dish or drink.
Instead, they’ll probably tell you a story. likely one that takes place on the cafe’s patio.
On Monday, we asked to hear your memories from Banquette's patio.
It’s those stories and the regulars who tell them that owner Monica May will miss most. She had kept the cafe open despite poor cash flow in hopes of selling it, but made the decision to shut the doors this past weekend once the announcement of a deal with Bäco meant that the prospect of an extended lease was off the table.
“I’m sorry it had to end this way, I really am,” said May. “We’ve lost a piece of our community that was inclusive.”
It’s not like those regulars will have to go far to find May, who spends most of her days one block south at the Nickel Diner.
The Nickel wouldn’t have existed without Banquette, the place where May met partner Kristen Trattner and most of the folks who ended up investing in the pair’s diner venture. “The reason the Nickel started was that we didn’t have a kitchen at Banquette,” May said.
Banquette was originally put on the market as a way to fund the Nickel Diner and was left there later because the pair didn’t have time to put into the cafe as the Nickel’s popularity exploded.
Still, the hot diner can never serve the same community role that Banquette did. “You can’t hang out at the Nickel,” May noted. Banquette became a place where Downtown residents would leave their keys when they went out of town, have their mail delivered or even leave numbers for a friend soon to get out of jail.
The cafe predates even Pete’s Cafe next door. Bar owner Cedd Moses and several partners opened the coffee shop in the summer of 2001 as “Acapulco Gold.” May took it over in 2004.
She looks back fondly on the place that she refers to as the “Island of Misfit Toys.” The cafe was “definitely a crossroads.”
That social business model was never very profitable. "Banquette never made a hell of a lot of money," said May.
While several potential buyers expressed interest in Banquette, in the end a deal could not be worked out that satisfied both May’s needed purchase price and Gilmore Associates’ requirements for a lease extension.
“It was the social center of this new Downtown,” Old Bank District developer Tom Gilmore noted Tuesday. In the beginning, “it was just Banquette.”
Guest on January 05, 2011, at 10:33AM – #1
Monica made several capital improvements in the space. If she had been able to sell, she could have recovered some of those expenses (and Banquette in some form would have continued). Instead, Gilmore turned down all of her potential buyers and he is the one who profited.
How much is enough for Gilmore? Is expanding his little empire really worth hurting people who helped him out and supported him from the beginning?
He claimed that Banquette "was" the social center of the new downtown. It was never NOT the center for many people living and working in the area. Those "misfit toys" have lost more than just a small cafe.
Gilmore's selfish, self-serving actions have wounded the heart of the Historic Core of downtown Los Angeles. He has shown himself to be a hollow, greedy man. Shame on him.
Eric Wang on January 05, 2011, at 10:37AM – #2
Who are you Guest 1? It's silly to troll this blog and continue to post anonymously the same bashing comment over and over. I appreciated your point of view the first time.
Guest on January 05, 2011, at 12:14PM – #3
I love the gossip. But you shouldn't!
Guest on January 05, 2011, at 12:17PM – #4
I know of a number of people that feel the way Guest #1 feels. And they're anonymous because they don't want to get kicked out of their apartments.
SeanYodaRouse on January 05, 2011, at 02:29PM – #5
If anything, this article leaves me with some questions. For a start:
What's Cedd Moses' opinion? (since he still has partial ownership in Banquette)
When did Monica decide to close Banquette for good? (On New Year's Eve, it sure seemed like it would be open on Monday)
Comment number 40 in the Centeno article, states that in October, Monica (or a representative) was notified that a LOI had been executed for the Banquette space & that the lease expiring this April would not be renewed. Did Monica confirm that statement?
Assuming that the lease expires in April, are they still on the hook, or were they able to terminate early?
Guest on January 05, 2011, at 03:09PM – #6
Number 1, what don't you understand when it comes to the terms "poor cash flow" and "never made a hell of a lot of money"? Moreover, sounds like Monica May wasn't having an easy time juggling the ownership of both Banquette and the Nickle Diner.
If she had an axe to grind with Gilmore, as appears to be the case with you, she'd likely have resisted telling Blogdowntown about the weak bottom line of her small eatery and instead grumbled about being taken advantage of and unfairly pushed out.
Actually in a way it's a shame that your accusations aren't credible. The reason? They would suggest the economics of the area around 4th and Main had become so vibrant that folks now were trying to finagle every piece of it.
Guest on January 05, 2011, at 03:14PM – #7
Move on folks. It's sad for sure. I just hit up a friend of mine who it seems I always used to meet there...love the fritatta. This is retail real estate and that's how it goes. Maybe they had personal issues, maybe they didn't. Maybe they didnt't like each other. Owners of popular cultural stores have been whining about landlords from NYC to SF to Miami to LA's westside for decades. It's part of the process. Landlords aren't culturally dedicated artisans and maybe they should be. They want the highest amount of rent. Maybe the Banquette concept increased the value of the property, there were an abundance of people interested in the space, so the landlord held the cards. If you say you're selling the biz when you don't own the real estate, you need a fat juicy lease as leverage. When you don't have that the landlord can deny your buyers. If you're asking say $30k for the space, landlord can charge 15k as turnkey and make more rent. Buyer beware: short leases are bad leases cuz you lose all leverage. Once you improve the space you're at the tail end....
Alexandra Leh on January 06, 2011, at 08:52PM – #8
dear monica, please put banquette's avocado toast on the nickel menu. love, alexandra
Guest on January 11, 2011, at 11:17AM – #9
Anything with pancetta in it is Heavenly in my opinion. I'll miss the hot chocolates on my way home from work. And the Anchor Steams at HH. And the Joe Cool bloodhound that always chilled on the patio.
Tear...sniffle.