The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer.
The internet is good for lots of things. It's great for finding information. You can find everything about almost anything. But there are some things that there's hardly any information about. They're usually too old or too little talked about -- rarely are they too obscure. The Original Spanish Kitchen is one of those things. Since we're so excited to share it (the myth, the legend, the reality) with you, we're going to start with this anecdotally driven (cough poorly researched cough, cough) version and report more thoroughly as the evidence comes in. There is a restaurant in existence called the Spanish Kitchen. It's decorated like South America Land in Disneyland and is located on La Cienega. This is not the Spanish Kitchen we're talking about. However, it has a sign that is an authentic reproduction of the sign at the Original Spanish Kitchen. (Only in Los Angeles has the landmark been destroyed but there is some kind of authentic reproduction hanging around.)
The Spanish Kitchen was a diner-esque restaurant opened in the 1940s at 7373 Beverly Boulevard. In 1961, the restaurant was still doing a brisk business when one day, it simply never opened up again. Peeking in the window, one could see nothing amiss. The menus, the napkins the forks knives and spoons. Everything in its right place to open the next day -- even twenty years later.
Myths sprung up around the place the way they do around the unexplained. There was a story that the couple who had run the place had been murdered by the mob in their upstairs apartment. It was an object of wonder -- a place left exactly the same as it had been the day it closed (except for the motes of dust.)
It turned out that the husband of the couple died and the wife couldn't bring herself to open it again, though she lived above the restaurant for years. The place was eventually torn down and they put up a fancy salon there.
posted by kuaptic. @ 12:39 PM
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