Crucial Meeting on June 2
By Emma Rault, Columnist
On June 2, the Harbor Area Planning Commission is discussing Burbank-based developer Prospect Group’s plans for a large new build on the Walker’s Cafe lot.
I spearheaded the grassroots campaign that won historic landmark designation for Walker’s Cafe. It was a major community effort with over three thousand supporters. But more than four years later, we’re in danger of losing the cafe altogether.
When Walker’s was suddenly shuttered by its previous absentee owners back in 2021, I feared for its future. Its location, on a large lot with an ocean view, made it vulnerable in an overheated real-estate market where history and community are often sacrificed for a quick profit.
Just before landmark status was finalized, it was bought by Prospect Group in an off-market deal for just $650,000. This firm is mainly active in the San Fernando Valley and specializes in fixing and flipping residential properties.
Prospect Group has no experience running restaurants and has shown little interest in doing so. Numerous potential cafe operators that reached out were stonewalled.
In the meantime, the group has let the shuttered cafe sit. And sit. After repeated invitations, Prospect finally appeared before the Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council — unveiling plans for a massive, 3,500+ sq ft, two-story residence with ADU.
These large, featureless cubes are common in many of LA’s seaside neighborhoods, where outside investors have created playgrounds for the ultra-wealthy, eroding charm and community feel. They have no place in Point Fermin, with its Victorian lighthouse, stunning park, and the rich history that led to the creation of the Point Fermin Historic District, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2021.
The current plan for the mega-mansion would fill most of the lot, totally overshadowing Walker’s. It would choke off the cafe’s vital space for storage, commercial deliveries, and the other crucial needs of a functioning business.
In short: this huge development would mean the death of the cafe.
Meanwhile, interested cafe tenants have continued to be pushed away. Colin Fahrner of the viral pop-up Yellow Paper Burger showed serious interest but was denied even a walkthrough of the site.
He ended up opening a brick-and-mortar in Eagle Rock instead.
Prospect’s approach since buying the historic cafe is beginning to look a lot like “demolition by neglect.” This is when owners deliberately allow a building to fall into disrepair while waiting for the land value to increase or trying to push through large-scale new construction to maximize profits.
Demolition by neglect is manipulative. The more time goes by, the more likely people are to OK something — anything — other than blight.
But time doesn’t make a bad idea better. If this project gets approved as proposed, we’re unlikely to see Walker’s reopen.
Which might be great for Prospect Group, but we’ll lose a vital community space when so much local history has already been lost in recent years. As the phrase goes, you can’t make a new old friend.
Dozens of people showed up to the City Planning hearing in October 2025 to say: We’re not against new housing, but this project is just too big.
Yet the city planner rubber-stamped the project, ignoring the recommendations of both the council office and the community. And they did it behind closed doors: no one was notified, a direct violation of the law. Not the neighbors, not the neighborhood councils, not the countless people who sent letters.
One longtime Walker’s supporter stumbled across the decision letter on a city portal last month and let us know. After we reached out, Planning admitted their “unforeseen administrative issue” and reopened the appeal period.
Friends of Walker’s Cafe have now joined forces with other concerned locals and filed an appeal to be discussed at the meeting on Tuesday, June 2 after 4:30 pm.
Here’s what we’re asking for:
1) A substantially reduced footprint for the residence.
2) A special planning condition, or “Q condition,” stating that the cafe must be kept operational.
3) Withholding building permits for the house until Prospect has made real progress on restoring the cafe.
Cramming the lot full makes Walker’s untenable. A smaller house at an appropriate distance, however, could still be rented out to a cafe operator. Or an owner-operator could take over, either living in the house themselves or renting it out for extra income.
Please join us in asking the city to hold this developer accountable, either by sending a support letter or giving public comment at the hearing. Visit savewalkerscafe.com for more information.
Since the 1940s, Walker’s has been a space of community and generosity. Its legendary founder, Bessie Mae Petersen, fed patrons even if they couldn’t pay. People still tell me all the time how much they miss it — it’s where their parents met, where they had their father’s funeral, their wedding reception. We can’t let something so precious be destroyed by — let’s call it what it is — greed.