The Original Pantry Cafe Is Set to Reopen Nov. 19, Old Crew Included

The century-old diner at 877 S. Figueroa St. returns as a social enterprise, with all profits going to the homelessness nonprofit Hope the Mission.

José Moran waited tables at downtown's Original Pantry Cafe for more than 45 years. After it closed, "I never thought I was going to work again there," he told LAist.

Now the diner has a date. SFGate reported on Oct. 22 that the Pantry, open since 1924 at Ninth and Figueroa, will reopen Nov. 19.

As of Monday, the Pantry's website lists hours of 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Eater LA covered the comeback on Oct. 23.

This week's pick is a place you can't eat at for another three weeks, and I'd circle the date anyway. The reason to go isn't on a menu. It's the people coming back behind the counter and where the money goes.

The new operator is Hope the Mission, a North Hills nonprofit. LAist reported that it runs 33 shelters and interim housing sites and serves nearly 9,000 meals a day. It's running the Pantry as a social enterprise for owner Leo Pustilnikov, a real estate developer. Hope the Mission says all the profits will go to its homelessness work. The nonprofit puts the diner's pre-COVID sales at $6 million a year and hopes to clear close to $50,000 a month.

The crew is the other half of the deal. Kurt Petersen, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11, told LAist that every worker who lost a job when the Pantry closed in March 2025 can return to their old position, with free family health insurance. Moran's brother Jesus also served there for more than 45 years, and both brothers plan to come back.

The food is still mostly a promise. The Pantry's site offers pickup orders, marked "coming soon." In March, Hope the Mission founder Ken Craft told LAist that its chefs were reworking the menu. He said it would keep classics like pancakes and hash browns and add a new dessert line and some healthier dishes.

Some of those dishes might come with a donor's name on them. The nonprofit's $800,000 fundraising campaign lets anyone who gives $100,000 or more name a menu item or a drink, and Craft told LAist a few people had already signed up. The pancakes are coming back. The name next to them on the menu might be new.

Treat Nov. 19 as a target. The first goal was New Year's Eve. Hope the Mission later said April or May, and LAist reported a window of May to June. Petersen told LAist that a car crashing into the building caused some of the delay.

Craft told LAist that when he looks at the old diner, he thinks, "your best years are yet to come." The Moran brothers plan to be back at the counter to find out.

Source: LAist, retrieved October 26, 2026. Other sources: SFGate, the Pantry's website, hopethemission.org.