More than a few friends of mine are counting the closure of the Du-Par's restaurant in Studio City as among the worst news items of 2017. Du-Par's has long been a chain of coffee shops around Southern California that somehow seem like both a long-time fixture of the area and a kind of "pop-up" temporary presence. The one in Farmers Market has been there forever ("forever" meaning since 1938) while others — like recent attempts in Encino and San Diego — open and close faster than the last dozen Woody Allen movies. Two opened a few years ago in Las Vegas and only one of them remains. It's in the Suncoast Hotel-Casino there.
They're great places for Breakfast and many patrons like to just sit and drink coffee — kind of a Starbucks for senior citizens. My father, after he retired, would go to the Farmers Market Du-Par's at least two mornings a week and sit there until he'd consumed one plate of their French Toast, three cups of joe and that morning's Los Angeles Times. Lunch and dinner are much less impressive — I usually order French Toast (no syrup, no sugar) or eggs (over hard) no matter what time it is — but at any hour, they're great places to park and talk with friends.
The chain started at that Farmers Market location via a partnership between James Dunn and Edward Parsons. Note what the letters in boldface spell out. Expansions began soon after and Du-Par's became one of many such operations around the Southland like Biff's and Tiny Naylor's. Both of those brands were owned by a gent named W.W. Naylor, who got his nickname because he stood 6'4" and weighed in at 320 pounds, most of which was probably blueberry pancakes.
At one point, there was a Tiny Naylor's at 12056 Ventura Blvd in Studio City. The Du-Par's that's about to close in Studio City is at 12036 Ventura Blvd. It was a great, friendly rivalry there but eventually, Du-Par's was the Last Diner Standing. All the eateries in the Naylor dynasty finally closed but in 2004, the son of Tiny — also named W.W. Naylor, I believe — headed up an investor group that bought Du-Par's. At the time, there were three of them to buy along with the name: The one at the Farmers Market, the one in Studio City and the one in Thousand Oaks.
I have a special fondness for the Thousand Oaks location. When I was working for Jack Kirby in the early seventies — or later when I was just socializing with Jack and his wife Roz — that was a frequent place we dined. Also, when I was collaborating with another wonderful comic book artist, Dan Spiegle, we'd sometimes meet up for lunch halfway between his home in Carpinteria and my home in Los Angeles. The halfway point was the Du-Par's in Thousand Oaks.
One time, I drove out to Thousand Oaks and had lunch there with Dan. Then I drove over to spend a few hours with the Kirbys and as evening arrived, I said, "Hey, let me take you out to dinner! Where do you want to go?" We wound up not only in the same restaurant but, because of where the hostess chose to seat us, in the same booth. That Du-Par's closed in 1991 to make way for a huge shopping center.
The one in Studio City closes New Year's Eve and is reportedly packed until then with folks who need to visit it one more time. An employee at the Farmers Market location told me the other day that the company is already looking at new possible locations in Studio City. He said, "They're not closing there due to lack of business. Business is great. They're closing because some other business wanted to open there and made an offer that drove the rent there way, way up."
That other business is rumored to be a Sephora's, that chain of upscale make-up shops. You could probably feed a family of six at Du-Par's for what Sephora's charges for a lipstick and an eye-liner.
We shall see if Du-Par's has a future in that area. In my experience, restaurants that have been around for a while rarely admit death. They usually say, "We're looking for a new location and will definitely reopen" and then some of them reopen and some don't. In any case, as 2018 begins, Du-Par's will be back to three outlets, all open 24 hours a day: The Du-Par's at Farmers Market, the one remaining in Vegas and one other out in Pasadena. I hope Studio City will soon be added back to that list.
By the way: If you want to see what the Studio City Du-Par's looks like, track down the episode of Jerry Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee that featured Garry Shandling. That's where they got their coffee and I'll bet they were not the only show business folks there that day. It would also be nice if someone could bring back Garry Shandling but I'm not counting on that.