The Original Pantry Cafe Reopens Nov. 19, With a Nonprofit Running the Century-Old Downtown Diner

Closed since March 2025 after a labor dispute, the Ninth and Figueroa landmark returns under developer Leo Pustilnikov and Hope the Mission, with returning union staff, scratch-made pancakes and all profits going to homeless shelters.

By Herald Staff · Nov. 12, 2026, 11:10 AM ET

The Original Pantry Cafe on the corner of Ninth and Figueroa streets in downtown Los Angeles on a sunny morning, with red-and-white striped awnings, a green "Breakfast 24 Hours" sign and a line of customers waiting along the sidewalk. — Customers line up outside the Original Pantry Cafe at Ninth and Figueroa in a file photo. The diner, closed since March 2025, reopens Nov. 19. Photo: Downtowngal (cropped) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (license).

LOS ANGELES — One of downtown's oldest landmarks is a week away from coming back to life. The Original Pantry Cafe, the diner at Ninth and Figueroa streets that served Angelenos for more than a century before closing abruptly in March 2025, reopens Thursday, Nov. 19, under a new owner and a new operator: Hope the Mission, a San Fernando Valley nonprofit that serves unhoused people. All of the restaurant's profits will go to the charity's shelters and programs, LAist reported Thursday.

The reopening is set to begin with a 10 a.m. ribbon-cutting at 877 S. Figueroa St. According to the restaurant's website, it will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

From a Hot Plate to a Downtown Institution

The Pantry opened in 1924 with five employees and a hot plate, the Los Angeles Times reported, and it grew into a 24-hour downtown destination that once boasted it had "never been closed since 1924." For many years it was owned by former Mayor Richard Riordan, who died in 2023 and left the property to a trust.

The ending was bitter. In 2023, about two dozen employees sought protection for their contract rights in case the trust sold the restaurant, according to the Times. The trust threatened to close the diner and followed through on March 2, 2025. Kurt Petersen, co-president of the hotel and restaurant workers union Unite Here Local 11, told the Times he was handcuffed and escorted out by police that day, though no one was charged.

A New Owner and a Nonprofit Operator

Developer Leo Pustilnikov bought the nearly 8,000-square-foot building in September 2025. "It was an L.A. institution, and I invest in downtown L.A., and I thought this was a great opportunity," he told the Times. Weeks after he got the keys, a car crashed into the side of the building, and Pustilnikov said the repairs and new permits added six months of work. That pushed the reopening past its planned New Year's Eve date, and more permitting delays moved it to November.

Pustilnikov brought in Hope the Mission to run the restaurant day to day. The nonprofit operates 35 shelters that house about 3,500 people on a given night, its president, Rowan Vansleve, told LAist. Founder and Chief Executive Ken Craft told the Times the new countertops, flooring, furniture, kitchen equipment and maintenance cost about $800,000. The diner's new slogan is "Come in for the food. Leave having done something good."

"One of our mottos is, 'Hope the Mission: where everybody and everything gets a second chance,'" Craft told the Times. "So when this opportunity presented itself, we said, 'Let's give this restaurant a second chance.'"

Familiar Faces Return

Longtime workers are coming back under a new contract with Unite Here Local 11. A union representative told the Times that all of the staff employed at the time of the closure were offered jobs, and that 13 of those 21 workers will return. Petersen said they will have free family health insurance, a pension and job security. Vansleve told LAist that bringing the staff back was "incredibly emotional."

What's on the Menu

Regulars will find the famous coleslaw and the sourdough toast from Frisco Baking Co., and the pancakes are back, now made from scratch instead of from a mix. Other dishes have been updated. LAist reported that the Denver omelet now uses poblano peppers and that two new sandwiches are named for donors who helped pay for the reopening. A new bakery case near the front windows will hold cookies, pies, cake and cobbler. A stack of buttermilk pancakes costs $16, and the classic breakfast platter of eggs, meat, Pantry potatoes and toast is $21, according to LAist.

"There are a few alterations on the menu," Vansleve told LAist. "Tastes have changed, and this needs to be successful."

The diner is also no longer cash-only, though a cashier will still work the old caged register by the front door, the Times reported. The dining room and long counter keep their classic look, and Los Angeles magazine noted that the hole in the side of the building from the car crash has been filled, while the well-known worn spot in the tile floor has been left alone.

Not 24 Hours, Yet

The Pantry had already given up its round-the-clock schedule before it closed, and the new operators say they want it back. "The Pantry is not truly back until it's 24 hours," Vansleve told Los Angeles magazine. "But we've got to make sure it's successful. Our goal is to be 24 as soon as possible but we need to see those lines around the corner like they used to be."

The Pantry is the latest historic downtown restaurant to return after closing, following Cole's, as the Times and LAist noted.

Original reporting by The Los Angeles Herald, drawing on LAist, the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles magazine and the Original Pantry Cafe, as linked above.