For nearly two decades, restaurant critic Jonathan Gold was a regular guest on Good Food. His essay "The Year I Ate Pico Blvd", written in the late 1990s, remains a crucial piece of food writing that explores both the cuisine and the cultural geography of Los Angeles.
"Precisely because Pico is so unremarked, because it is left alone like old lawn furniture moldering away in the side yard of a suburban house," Jonathan wrote, "it is at the center of entry-level capitalism in central Los Angeles, and one of the most vital food streets in the world."
This menu from El Tepeyac, which still exists in Boyle Heights and is known for its massive Hollenbeck Burrito, dates to 1985. Photo from the Los Angeles Public Library Collection.
In honor of what would've been the Pulitzer Prize winner's 65th birthday earlier this summer, food writer Tien Nguyen revisited the essay as one of the Los Angeles Public Library's Creators in Residence. She's working on a project to preserve the food history of Los Angeles through its menus.
She describes the library's menu collection as an "amazing trove."
Cafe Nat Goodwin was located in Santa Monica on Crystal Pier. Neither the building nor the pier still exist. This menu is from the 1920s. Photo from the Los Angeles Public Library Collection.
"There's over 17,000 menus in this collection and as part of my project, I've been learning a lot more about it. It's been wonderful to learn that it started in the late 1980s with a librarian named Billie Connor-Dominguez, who one day, I think, decided that it would be very important and worthwhile to save menus from local restaurants," Tien says.
Located on Wilshire Blvd. in Santa Monica, Fox and Hounds was popular with celebrities in the 1950s and '60s. This menu is from before 1963. Photo from the Los Angeles Public Library Collection.
Tien is exploring the collection and identifying menus that tell a story about Los Angeles and how we eat today. "My project is really taking a look at the collection on a micro level," Tien says. "And in the case of the Jonathan Gold/Pico Boulevard part of the project, that was really a street-level look at the menus. I'm hoping to be able to uncover menus and tell stories about them and spread the word about them on social media."
While it's fun to browse through the digitized menus, you can also make an appointment to see them in person.
Food writer Tien Nguyen is one of the LA Public Library's Creators in Residence. Photo courtesy of Tien Nguyen.