Closings

22-Year-Old La Esquinita Closing Sunday in Echo Park

Echo Park
Echo Park Photo: Alossix/Flickr

After 22 years and two locations, Echo Park is losing La Esquinita, the tiny mom-and-pop Mexican cafe on Sunset owned by Alberto and Maria Barajas. The Eastsider L.A. reports that regulars are distressed over talk that Sunday could be the final day of business for the neighborhood institution, as the lease holder of the property refuses to renew its lease. There’s no question that Echo Park’s stewing gentrification is boiling into a more concrete level as of late, bringing farmers market restaurants, bustling beer halls, $175 steaks, and higher rents into a landscape long loved for inexpensive enchiladas and cheap churros. The family behind La Esquinita, who have racked up a four-and-a-half star rating on Yelp, plans to pack up all their equipment and seek out another location, though daughter Vanessa tells the blog, “We lost the lease and don’t have anywhere else to go.”

Echo Park Mexican restaurant owners prepare to pack up and move on but where? [ESLA]

22-Year-Old La Esquinita Closing Sunday in Echo Park