The line at the Original Saugus Cafe counter stretched down the block Sunday morning as dozens of diners showed up for a final taste of the restaurant.
Open for 139 years, it was the longest operating cafe in Los Angeles County before closing its doors for good Sunday evening. Located about 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles in Santa Clarita, it was a place you may have never heard of before its closing. But to residents in the area, it was a piece of history they plan to cherish.
Charlane Glover brought her grandaughter Kylie for one last meal. For decades, Glover visited once or twice a month. The Original Saugus Cafe was the place she turned to when she lost her husband, nostalgic for the Sunday morning breakfasts they shared at the restaurant before his passing.
“I can’t imagine it being gone,” said Charlane, who waited for over an hour for a table. “We are losing all of our history. Just losing everything that was here.”
Originally called the Saugus Eating House, the restaurant opened as part of a railway station in 1886. In 1916, it moved to its current location, one long, narrow building that included a bar and dining room. Over the years, Hollywood film stars such as Frank Sinatra and John Wayne, along with U.S. presidents like Teddy Roosevelt, all dined at the cafe. The restaurant was featured in numerous films and TV shows, including “Leprechaun,” “Boys on the Side” and “Drive.”
The closure was announced via a Facebook post in late December, along with a sign posted to the doors.
“On behalf of the Saugus Cafe staff and ownership, we want to extend our deepest gratitude to our community for the incredible support you have shown us throughout the years,” read the statement.
Yecenia Ponce, whose father, Alfred, owns and cooks at the cafe, didn’t offer a specific reason for the closure, but said the decision to close was a difficult one.
“We don’t want to close,” she said. Ponce was the general manager at the restaurant for more than 15 years. “It’s really sad that it has to come to an end. But that’s the situation. I just want to thank the community for showing up and supporting.”
Future plans for the building are unknown, but Saugus resident and cafe regular Jack Getskow hopes the building might be preserved. The 82-year-old first arrived in the area in 1967 and spent decades as a school teacher who frequented the restaurant with fellow educators.
“I personally feel that this building should not be torn down, and if nothing else, it should also be on the national monument registry and that it should be saved and preserved and have it made into a museum,” he said. “I hope something good happens. Every time I came here to eat, it was always really good.”
I visited the Saugus Cafe in the spring of 2025 for a feature on the oldest restaurants in Los Angeles County. When I arrived mid-morning, the restaurant was more than half empty. It was a place that seemed wrapped in a cocoon of nostalgia. The main decor consisted of historical photos and restaurant paraphernalia. Worn green leather booths lined the main dining room opposite the counter. Plates overflowed with fried eggs, hash browns and bacon. Cooks started making an order as soon as they saw a familiar face walk through the door.
On Sunday, the dining room was bustling. Diners were disappointed to learn that the restaurant had run out of pie before noon.
When a business announces its closure, people pay attention. They swarm the business in its last days. Notes of praise and mourning flood its social media pages. But where was everyone before the closure announcement?
San Pedro resident Jackson Hahn fell in love with the Saugus Cafe while working at the nearby Santa Clarita Studios. He drove an hour and 20 minutes to “pay his respects,” on the restaurant’s last day.
“If it was this busy all the time, we’d never have this problem,” he said. Hahn remembers visiting the restaurant at least once or twice a week for a Philly cheesesteak omelette or a King Saugus Burger when he worked in the area.
“It’s good to see the restaurant filled up,” he said. “It’s usually only like a few booths here and there filled. It’s sweet to see the community support and to remind the Saugus Cafe family of the larger family that they’ve cultivated throughout the years.”
The restaurant joins a growing list of notable closures that stunned the city in 2025. No one was immune to the ongoing effects of the ICE raids, the Palisades and Altadena fires, and the struggle to dig out from the hole left by the pandemic and the Hollywood strikes. We said goodbye to Here’s Looking at You in Koreatown, Gucci Osteria in Beverly Hills, Santa Monica mainstay Cassia and dozens of others.
The Original Pantry Cafe closed after more than a century in downtown Los Angeles. Papa Cristo’s survived 77 years on Pico Boulevard before shuttering last year.
Saugus resident Michelle McCall remembers the first meal she had at the cafe more than 30 years ago. She had just moved to the area and was elated at her plate of pancakes.
“The pancake was the size of the whole plate!” She said. “The food was really, really good.”
But despite the memorable experience, it took 30 years, and the impending closure to return.
This time, she brought along her husband, Ron, who was visiting the cafe for the first time. The two feasted on chicken fried steak, eggs with corn beef hash, and biscuits and gravy.
“I couldn’t not come this last day,” she said.
The restaurant may be closed, but Ponce said her family plans to continue selling Original Saugus Cafe merchandise online.
Juliana Yamada contributed to the reporting of this article.
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