THE ORIGINAL PANTRY CAFE PART 1

NEVER CLOSED, NEVER WITHOUT A CUSTOMER

For nearly a century, the Original Pantry Café has fed Los Angeles locals and visitors with huge plates of food at a reasonable price.

When it opened in 1924, downtown was booming.

The Pantry survived both the Depression and the era when Downtown LA became rather scary and desolate.

We remember going to it when sat among great empty blocks, with only the fabled Hotel Fig – aka the Hotel Figueroa, holding court year it.

Now he voids have been filled with the Staples Center and dozens of other buildings as Downtown LA is popular again with dozens of loft conversions and hip little restaurants.

Through it all, the Pantry has been open 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

The door doesn’t have a key.

As The Pantry's current owner, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan likes to boast, "We never close. We're never without a customer."

The Original Pantry Review continues tomorrow Nov. 13