Santa Monica Dreaming — Callahan’s Restaurant

Filed under: Westside, Eat — StyleGuide @ 6:46 am

Wilshire Boulevard begins in a forest of modern glass and steel skyscrapers in L.A.’s downtown.  It passes through the Pico Union district, one of the most densely populated areas in the country, then dissects bustling Koreatown.  Through Tar Pits and by LACMA, winding through Beverly Hills and Westwood, around Brentwood.  Then, a few blocks before it drops off into the Santa Monica Bay, the Boulevard passes a diner called Callahan’s.

Callahan’s was established in 1927, so for 80 years the restaurant has been slinging hash and witnessing (and seemingly ignoring) Wilshire’s slide into urbanity.  Slip onto a vinyl stool at their mile-long lunch counter and you’re decades into the past.

The restaurant’s look is vintage, but not faux vintage (like Johnny Rocket’s or another great restaurant, S&W Country Diner in Culver City).

Its soda fountain (pictured) stretches as long as a couch, with more than a dozen pockets that probably once held jimmies and chocolate sauce, left unused but kept sparkling clean like a museum exhibit.  As coffee technology and tastes evolved, Callahan’s invested in new machines, lining the new ones next to the old, industrial-sized Bunn machine butted up to compact cappuccino maker.  Ancient green vinyl booths match the mint walls. 

Their menu offers traditional coffee shop fare, but their 2+2+2 breakfast — two eggs, two slices of bacon or links of sausage, and two hot cakes, which runs a nostalgic $3.95 — caught my eye.  

Authentic old school diner with undeniably old school prices.

Price:  $ (prices starting at $3.95)

Where:  1213 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, Ca 90403

Call:  310-394-6210

Do you have a favorite vintage haunt?  Where?

Posted in Westside, Eat |