In late March, Prospect Group officially closed the deal on purchasing Walker’s Cafe, a beloved San Pedro diner that closed in October 2021. Silva Harapetian, a representative of Prospect Group, says that her organization intends to keep the café running the same as it was before.
Harapetian said the deal has been in the works for some time.
“There was a lot of moving parts because it’s a commercial property,” Harapetian said.
On March 17, prior to Prospect purchasing it, the Cultural Heritage Commission of the City of Los Angeles voted unanimously that the city council should consider the café’s monument status and recommended that the council declare it a monument.
The next step in the process is for the city’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee to consider it. The committee will then make a recommendation to the full city council, which will have the final say.
“Walker’s Cafe meets the criteria to become a historic cultural monument in the City of Los Angeles because it is associated with the social, cultural and commercial history of both San Pedro and Los Angeles as a whole,” said Emma Rault, a community advocate, and a member of the Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council, who has been leading the movement to make the café a historical monument.
The café was founded in 1944 by Bessie Mae Petersen and Ray Walker. While Walker died in 1953, Petersen continued to operate the café until her death in 1996. It then passed into the possession of Richard Brummett, Petersen’s son. Richard Brummett’s son, Derek Brummett, is the trustee of the café, and said that his 89-year-old father is in poor health and unable to run the café any longer, he said when he spoke at a previous hearing for the café on Jan. 20.
Even though the deal is final, Harapetian said she doesn’t know how much Prospect Group paid for the café.
She said that Prospect Group has experience restoring historic properties.
“We see value in restoring it to its heyday,” Harapetian said.
Harapetian said her organization is looking for a restaurateur to operate the café. She said the group had already spoken to some potential candidates, including the previous manager of the café.
“We are not restaurant operators,” Harapetian said. “We’re looking for someone who knows how to do this. And potentially someone within the community who has a vested interest, that wants to keep it exactly the way it was.”
Harapetian said her organization has been participating in the meetings to declare the café a historical monument.
“We look forward to working with the city and the planning department to do the necessary health and safety updates that it needs to be a functional café again,” Harapetian said. “That’s something that I think is going to take some time. Hopefully, we can expedite the process.”
When asked for more details about which health and safety permits are needed, Harapetian said she did not know, but that this was because her organization had just purchased the property.
“We’ve been in conversation with Emma,” Harapetian said. “And we’ve participated in meetings, and with the anticipation of being the owners, but you never can plan any of this stuff until the ink is dry.”
Harapetian said that Prospect Group had people look at the foundation, the plumbing and the electrical. This is part of the process of buying it, but she said they are already getting bids to do repairs.
On Feb. 10, two members of the Cultural Heritage Commission visited the property for a site visit, along with other city staff. Rault was present as well.
“It’s mainly for them to kind of observe the conditions on site,” Rault said. “[They can] see the building in person, and see, has anything changed since the presentation.”
Commissioner Richard Barron was there, and he said that while they were not able to get inside, they were able to look through the windows. Rault said this was because the owner lives upstate, and no one had keys.
“They took pictures through the windows,” Rault said. “They looked at the neon sign, and they just asked a few clarifying questions for context in terms of the history of the place.”
Rault said the visit was brief.
“It hasn’t been used in a while,” Barron said at the March 17 meeting of the commission. “It needs some TLC [tender, loving care].”
Barron said he was in support of making the café a monument, but pointed out the limitations of the commission’s power.
“This commission can make the building a monument,” Barron said. “But we don’t make the use a monument. So, we always have this problem … it could turn into a cigar room, or whatever, anything. We don’t protect the use. And it’s been a problem for us, you know, with things like this.”
Richard Brummett could not be reached for comment on this story.