A waste of space
Almost every single person has a favorite eating spot. I won't say restaurant because for some it isn't a restaurant but a place where they take their food. I have a number of favorite restaurants. But one, now long gone, will always be my absolute favorite.
That's the last message ever posted on the marquee of the Stick & Stein on Sepulveda Blvd in El Segundo. It closed in early 2011, while I was still bedridden but nearing release from the sub-acute facility I'd been moved to after my first few months at Santa Monica/UCLA Medical Center.
The years listed on that marquee are accurate in terms of how long a restaurant by that name was an El Segundo institution, but they were at this particular location from 1993 through their closure in 2011. I had eaten at one of the prior restaurants at this location with my second ex-wife when it was known as the Jolly Roger. By the time it became home of the Stick and Stein, the second ex-wife had moved out and I ate out frequently. I came here not long after it opened and became an instant regular.
For a long time I'd be eating in the bar, even though I no longer drank alcohol. The reason for being in the bar was to be able to play the nationwide trivia game then known at the National Trivia Network (NTN). Sometimes I would play solo, sometimes I would play with friends, but we played frequently.
Eventually I began sitting at the counter in the restaurant. Some of the food items were good, a few were excellent (I'd go anywhere that would serve their Friday night occasional special soup, cream of chicken with wild rice; I've never found another that was as good) and most were average. The service was terrific. The owner, George, was probably the best restaurant operator I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.
On nights when the local professional sports teams were competing in post-season play, the place would be standing-room only. The dozen or so pool tables were covered with custom-made wooden tables and they would be surrounded by less than comfortable folding chairs. Every seat had a view of a large television screen. While games involving the Dodgers or the Los Angeles Kings would draw big crowds, when the Lakers were in playoff mode, it was crowding in the extreme. One might have to park two or three blocks away and have to walk over to get in.
Now, the property is vacant. The only revenue the current owner appears to be receiving is from the neighboring IHOP for use of some of the parking lot. The building has been listed for sale several times during the six years since the Stick closed. George told me he had worked very hard with the owner in the years before he had to close to try to arrange a new lease that would allow for the retrofitting of the building so the dining room could be air-conditioned. But it was a deal that could never be finalized.
With the rebound in the economy and the demographics of El Segundo one would think that a corner lot with a large frontage on Sepulveda Boulevard, would be so valuable, it wouldn't sit vacant for more than six years. But it has.
Records make it appear that the current owner of the property has come close to selling it twice in the last couple of years. I hope someone can close a deal and turn that corner into something productive. Right now it is both a lingering memory and a waste of very valuable space.
That's the last message ever posted on the marquee of the Stick & Stein on Sepulveda Blvd in El Segundo. It closed in early 2011, while I was still bedridden but nearing release from the sub-acute facility I'd been moved to after my first few months at Santa Monica/UCLA Medical Center.
The years listed on that marquee are accurate in terms of how long a restaurant by that name was an El Segundo institution, but they were at this particular location from 1993 through their closure in 2011. I had eaten at one of the prior restaurants at this location with my second ex-wife when it was known as the Jolly Roger. By the time it became home of the Stick and Stein, the second ex-wife had moved out and I ate out frequently. I came here not long after it opened and became an instant regular.
For a long time I'd be eating in the bar, even though I no longer drank alcohol. The reason for being in the bar was to be able to play the nationwide trivia game then known at the National Trivia Network (NTN). Sometimes I would play solo, sometimes I would play with friends, but we played frequently.
Eventually I began sitting at the counter in the restaurant. Some of the food items were good, a few were excellent (I'd go anywhere that would serve their Friday night occasional special soup, cream of chicken with wild rice; I've never found another that was as good) and most were average. The service was terrific. The owner, George, was probably the best restaurant operator I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.
On nights when the local professional sports teams were competing in post-season play, the place would be standing-room only. The dozen or so pool tables were covered with custom-made wooden tables and they would be surrounded by less than comfortable folding chairs. Every seat had a view of a large television screen. While games involving the Dodgers or the Los Angeles Kings would draw big crowds, when the Lakers were in playoff mode, it was crowding in the extreme. One might have to park two or three blocks away and have to walk over to get in.
Now, the property is vacant. The only revenue the current owner appears to be receiving is from the neighboring IHOP for use of some of the parking lot. The building has been listed for sale several times during the six years since the Stick closed. George told me he had worked very hard with the owner in the years before he had to close to try to arrange a new lease that would allow for the retrofitting of the building so the dining room could be air-conditioned. But it was a deal that could never be finalized.
With the rebound in the economy and the demographics of El Segundo one would think that a corner lot with a large frontage on Sepulveda Boulevard, would be so valuable, it wouldn't sit vacant for more than six years. But it has.
Records make it appear that the current owner of the property has come close to selling it twice in the last couple of years. I hope someone can close a deal and turn that corner into something productive. Right now it is both a lingering memory and a waste of very valuable space.
posted by me at 12:00 PM
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