The office of the mayor of Los Angeles will dedicate this Thursday the intersection near the restaurant El Cholo as Plaza Alejandro and Rosa Bórquez, in honor of the founders of the Mexican restaurant which celebrates its 100th anniversary.
Ron Salisbury, 90-year-old grandson of the founders, Brendon Salisbury, chief financial officer of El Cholo restaurants and great-grandson of the founders, councilwoman Heather Hutt and singer Michelle Phillips, a self-proclaimed “superfan” of the El Cholo restaurant , will be present at the ceremony, which will take place at the intersection of Western Avenue and 11th Street, at 11 a.m.
Phillips, best known as the lead singer of folk rock band The Mamas & the Papas, said she was first introduced to El Cholo by Jack Nicholson in 1969.
The staff of a Southern California restaurant includes three exceptional servers, who relieve their co-workers and serve customers.
“He told me how struggling actors would come to El Cholo and buy a bowl of a hoja beans for 35 cents, and how the waitresses would bring hot tortillas and salsa for no extra charge. That’s how Jack survived for many years,” Phillips said.
“As for me, well, I never left the place. We have celebrated all my birthdays, as well as the birthdays of my various boyfriends and all my children at El Cholo for half a century, including my famous 40th birthday party. I will never find a more fun and delicious gathering place, ever.
Details of El Cholo’s recently launched million dollar campaign to fight childhood cancer will be announced at the ceremony.
A restaurant that was born with another name
The Bórquez family opened the Sonora Café, named after their home state of Sonora, Mexico, in 1923 on Broadway and Santa Barbara Avenue (now Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard) in South Los Angeles.
The original menu featured some very old California dishes, including sweet green corn tamales.
In 1925, a customer of a restaurant drew on a paper menu the figure of a Mexican peasant, a “cholo”. Alejandro Bórquez loved the sketch so much that he and his wife were inspired to change the restaurant’s name to El Cholo.
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Aurelia Bórquez, the daughter of Alejandro and Rosa Bórquez, met her future husband, George Salisbury, in El Cholo in 1926. The couple opened their own El Cholo restaurant in 1927, choosing a site on the east side of Western Avenue. George Salisbury’s mother, Lydia, mortgaged her home for $600 so he could open the restaurant.
El Cholo moved to a two-room bungalow across the street in 1931 and remains there.
“El Cholo is not just a place to eat. It’s been part of LA culture and has been for a century,” Ron Salisbury said. “For me, El Cholo represents a sample of what LA is really about.
“We have people who come in Rolls-Royces and people who take the bus. We have students, rich people, people who barely get along and even struggling actors. No matter, they come here. To me, that’s always been a big part of our undying charm.”