The long-running effort to reopen San Pedro’s Walker’s Cafe under a historic designation was the subject of a zoning hearing Thursday, Oct. 30, the latest step in what has been nearly a four-year process.
The popular hangout — closed down in the pandemic and later sold — received Los Angeles City Historic-Cultural Monument status in 2022 but has faced a long road in getting a final go-ahead.
Walker’s, across from Point Fermin Park on San Pedro’s picturesque south-facing ocean bluffs, has been an institution in San Pedro since the 1940s.
The 763-square-foot building predates the cafe, having been constructed in 1936 and serving as a grocery store for a while. That is, until Bessie Mae Petersen and her husband, sailor Ray Walker, bought it and turned it into Walker’s Cafe and Grill.
In the years that followed, the cafe earned a hometown reputation as an unpretentious-but-colorful spot, serving up “Bessie burgers,” cold beers — and plenty of camaraderie.
In November 2021, the cafe appeared to be closed — a fact that was confirmed a few months later by the family that has owned the business since it debuted.
Derek Brummett, the grandson of Bessie Mae Peterson, told city Historic-Cultural Monument commissioners that his father and current owner, Richard Brummett, 89, was in poor health and no longer able to run the restaurant.
The effort to save the cafe, 700 W. Paseo del Mar, was led by resident Emma Rault, who grew up in The Netherlands but eventually settled in San Pedro, where she became a regular at Walker’s.
The restaurant was purchased by The Prospect Group based in Burbank in 2022.
An L.A. City zoning administrator took nearly two hours of testimony on Thursday and, after allowing for another five days for the pubic to provide additional comments, will issue a Letter of Determination in about 45 to 60 days following the public hearing.
And there may be other steps following that before a final go-ahead could come, a spokesperson for the owner said.
Numerous speakers participated in Thursday’s online public hearing.
The Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council, after requesting some changes including fewer outdoor seats, earlier endorsed the project and several community members spoke in favor of the plans — which now include building a single family home and an attached secondary ADU (accessory dwelling unit) on property behind the restaurant.
The property is in an R1 zone and Prospect representatives said the additional rental income will be needed to make the restaurant sustainable financially.
Rault said supporters and prospective operators have been “stonewalled” by the owners, adding that the “cafe is being completely boxed in” by the proposed residential units behind it.
The cafe, she stressed, must be the priority.
Others raised concerns about finding a cafe operator and making sure the new operation will not be a business appropriate for the area and nearby homes.
While the cafe will serve beer and wine the service will be confined to indoor tables only, the owners said.
But it was the addition of homes behind the restaurant that drew most of the objections.
Peggy Lindquist, the former owner of the The Corner Store in San Pedro, said “as a business the cafe itself” wouldn’t be able to make enough money to be sustainable without the residential addition.
“I’m in support of their wanting the build a house … I think that’s the only way to make it work,” Lindquist said.
Silva Harapetian, spokeswoman for the owner, said the property was purchased for some $600,000 “but we’ve spent just as much in the last four years in man hours, fees, expertise, architectural (consulting), attorneys.”
Owners have pledged to reopen and keep the cafe in its original use and has been doing ongoing historic research about the cafe, Harapetian said salvaging anything from Walker’s history and former decor they could find to use in the reopened cafe.
The group has gone before the neighborhood council on several occasions, she said, and agreed to adjust some of the plans based on the council’s recommendations. The Prospect Group remains committed to the project, she said.