The first position on the list of the oldest restaurants in Los Angeles is the Original Saugus Café. At the north end of the Saugus Rail Depot, James Herbert Tolfree opened the "Saugus Eating House" in 1886. The Southern Pacific rail line, which runs between Los Angeles and San Francisco, made a stop at the train station. The café offered a location for traveling rail passengers to have a snack. Henry Newhall, a local developer, was born in Saugus, Massachusetts, and his hometown inspired the station's name. Simply using the station's name, the café.

The café served meals to two American presidents, Theodore Roosevelt and Benjamin Harrison (1891 and 1903, respectively). There, a New York steak is rumored to have been consumed by President Roosevelt. William Mulholland, the architect of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, and Fred Eaton, the mayor of Los Angeles, went by the café to eat.

The Original Saugus Café is the name of the establishment today. On the surface, the café doesn't seem any more notable than any other dining spot, but it has served as a host to presidents, and a string of Hollywood greats, and has welcomed more guests over the years than any other restaurant in Los Angeles County.

Location: Parking lot, 25861 Railroad Ave, Santa Clarita, CA 91355, America
Phone: +1 661-259-7886
Website: facebook.com/thesauguscafe

Watson’s Soda Fountain & Cafe was first established as K.E. Watson's in 1899, first on Glassell Street and subsequently in its current location on Chapman Avenue in Orange, California. Around this time, laws were implemented across many states in the US banning the sale of soda water on Sundays. On Sundays, local soda fountains started selling ice cream sodas as an alternative, leaving only the ice cream and syrup in the drink. That ended up being the ice cream sundae's original recipe. Watson's operated a soda fountain in 1915 that served phosphates, ice cream soda, and sundaes.

American-style "comfort dishes" have been introduced to the menu throughout the succeeding years and have remained a staple of Watson's restaurant menu. Keller Watson Jr. departed from Watson's in 1965, and Scott Parker, a driven young pharmacist, took over the company in 1971. By providing individualized service, ensuring that each person is taken care of to the best of his ability, offering consultations and advice on prescriptions, and constantly working to offer medications for the best price possible, Scott has given his clients and patients that cozy breath of nostalgia in his mild, soft-spoken manner.

Location: 116 E Chapman Ave, Orange, CA 92866, Hoa Kỳ
Phone: +1 714-202-2899
Website: watsonscafe.com

Despite the fact that Cole's, a competing sandwich shop, asserts that it invented the French Dip first, Philippe's The Original has a stronger claim and is more well-known. Philippe Mathieu, a French immigrant who founded Philippe's in 1908, did not invent the French Dip until 1918. A French roll was accidentally thrown into meat juices, according to the widely-repeated tale, and the customer—a policeman—said the drenched sandwich was alright. The police officer and his companions went back the next day because they thought the dipped sandwich was so good.

It's unclear if the sandwich was given the moniker French Dip because Mathieu was French or because the officer had the surname name of French. Whatever the circumstances, Philippe's is today recognized as the origin of the French Dip sandwich. Philippe’s The Original is one of the oldest restaurants in Los Angeles.

The house specialty, Philippe's "French Dipped Sandwich," features roast beef, roast pig, leg of lamb, turkey, pastrami, or ham on a freshly baked, softly textured French roll that has been dipped in the gravy from the roasts. Swiss, American, Monterey, and Cheddar You might include Jack or Blue cheese.

Location: 1001 N Alameda St, Los Angeles, CA 90012, America
Phone: +1 213-628-3781
Website: philippes.com

The oldest establishment still in business in Los Angeles that has been operating at the same location since its founding is Cole's Pacific Electric Buffet, also known as Cole's P.E. Buffet, which is located at 118 East 6th Street in the Historic Core neighborhood of downtown Los Angeles, California.

Henry Cole established Cole's in 1908 on the first floor of the Pacific Electric Building, the primary terminus for the Pacific Electric Railway. The varnished doors of retired Red Cars from the Pacific Electric Railway were used to create Cole's one-of-a-kind table tops. The tables were taken away as part of the refurbishment and apparently moved to the neighboring corporate headquarters of the developer, which is housed above Clifton's Cafeteria.

Henry Cole, who started the restaurant in 1908, is said to have dipped French bread in beef broth from cooking the sandwich's meat for the first time because a customer had just undergone dental work and the bread was too hard. Nobody will ever be able to definitively say whether Cole's or rival Philippe's originated the French Dip because there are no documented reports or firsthand testimonies of this episode.

Location: 118 E 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90014, America

Phone: +1 213-878-9034

Website: colesfrenchdip.com

The next position on the list of the oldest restaurants in Los Angeles is the Magee's Kitchen. In 1917, the Grand Central Market in Los Angeles became the first location for Magee's Kitchen. Co-founder Blanche Magee saw all the farmers selling food out of their trucks and thought they looked hungry so she served them sandwiches and coffee. Magee opened a little eatery with her husband Raymond. Magee's Kitchen, the only surviving original tenant at the renowned Los Angeles Farmers Market, opened as the market's first restaurant a few decades later. Magee's Kitchen is being run by the Magee family today.

People still wait in line today for magnificent dishes of ham, turkey, or corned beef. The cole slaw and homemade, excellent horseradish from Magee's are both outstanding. Magee's Nuts, a nut-only subsidiary vendor that arose from the restaurant's earlier days of selling peanut butter sandwiches, is also located in today's market. However, the Kitchen section continues to be the main attraction, bringing in patrons for hot dogs, a surprising assortment of traditional Mexican dishes, and corned beef sandwiches with plenty of horseradish.

Location: 6333 W 3rd St #624, Los Angeles, CA 90036, America
Phone: +1 323-938-4127
Website: mageeskitchen.com

In the Los Angeles area of Hollywood, at 6667-9 Hollywood Boulevard, there is a restaurant called Musso & Frank Grill. The eatery, which bears the names of its founding proprietors Joseph Musso and Frank Toulet, debuted in 1919. It has been referred to as "the birth of Hollywood" and is the oldest restaurant in the city.

Firmin "Frank" Toulet, a French immigrant, opened the eatery at 6669 Hollywood Boulevard as Frank's François Café. To reflect Toulet's new partnership with Joseph Musso, the business was renamed Musso & Frank's in 1923.

Joseph Carissimi and John Mosso purchased the restaurant in 1927. The restaurant was enlarged by Mosso to incorporate 6667 Hollywood Boulevard in 1936. The large room on the restaurant's east side, which was inaugurated in 1955, is still referred to as "the new room." High ceilings, dark wood paneling, and red booths are all original features that have been preserved in the restaurant. The same red coats that its servers and bartenders have been donning for decades are worn by them. The restaurant is still run by his great-grandson Mark Echeverria and is still owned by the descendants of John Mosso, who bought out Carissimi's family. The "New York-style bar and restaurant" Musso and Frank are today regarded as a classic.

Location: 6667 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, CA 90028, America

Phone: +1 323-467-7788

Website: mussoandfrank.com

In the Greater Los Angeles Area, there is a chain of gastropubs called Barney's Beanery. It was established in 1920 by John "Barney" Anthony in Berkeley, California, and transferred to West Hollywood in 1927 along what is now State Route 2 (U.S. Route 66). In addition to the original location in West Hollywood, Barney's Beanery also had outposts in Burbank, Pasadena (taking over the first floor of Q's Billiards at 99 East Colorado Boulevard), Santa Monica, Westwood, Redondo Beach at the Redondo Beach Pier, and Pasadena's Q's Billiards).

People from various walks of life, including artists, writers, and other celebrities, frequented Barney because of its location, availability of credit, and sporadic food giveaways. Clara Bow, Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, Judy Garland, and Rita Hayworth, among other veteran Hollywood actors, frequently appeared in those days. Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin started frequenting the nearby Sunset Strip in the 1960s, which had developed into a significant music hub (Joplin visited Barney's for her final time before passing away in October 1970).

Location: 8447 Santa Monica Blvd, Hollywood
Phone: 323-654-2287
Website: barneysbeanery.com

One of the oldest restaurants in Los Angeles is the Pacific Dining Car. Californian restaurant chain Pacific Dining Car has two locations. In the backyard of a friend's home in Los Angeles, it was established in 1921 by Fred and Grace Cook. It was extended to Santa Monica in 1990. Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, the restaurant's proprietors closed both locations in 2020 and sold the furnishings at auction.

Wes Idol III, a descendant of the restaurant's original owners, is currently in charge. Every day of the year, including Christmas and other holidays, it was open 24 hours a day. Movies and television shows like Training Day and Shameless used the restaurant as a scene.

Fred and Grace Cook suggested the idea of a modified railway dining car experience to a friend, who allowed them to use his backyard to build the dining car, taking inspiration from a company with a similar theme. The Cooks upgraded their dining car because they believed that traditional railroad dining was too crowded. They also planned for comfortable sitting configurations. The modified dining car was finished and then transported to a location in Los Angeles at 7th and Westlake.

The Pacific Dining Car's basic meals were divided into sections for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and Desserts. Other menus include an Afternoon Tea menu that is only accessible by appointment and a Late Night buffet that is offered from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Delivery is offered for every cuisine.

Location: 1310 W 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90017, America

Phone: +1 213-483-6000

Website: pacificdiningcar.com