Cole’s French Dip, a Los Angeles institution for 117 years, plans to close in August, according to its owner.
“After 117 incredible years of serving as L.A.’s favorite public house, Cole’s last day of service is Aug. 2, 2025,” the company said on a website popup. “We are grateful to the downtown L.A. community for joining us for good times, great cocktails, and the Original French Dip Sandwich.”
Eater Los Angelesreported that owner Cedd Moses cited a “litany of reasons” for the closure, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes, rising labor and rent costs, and municipal bureaucracy.
Moses, the main partner in hospitality company Pouring With Heart, also closed iconic cocktail bar Varnish in 2024, a speakeasy in a former back storage room of Cole’s.
“Many historical independent restaurants are struggling under the weight of these issues and have already closed, while those remaining are fighting to survive,” Moses said in statement sent to Eater.
Cole’s opened in 1908 from entrepreneur Harry Cole, who operated the sandwich shop and bar — called the Red Car Bar — inside the hub of Los Angeles’s busy Pacific Electric Building, where the city’s now defunct streetcar served more than 100,000 passengers daily.
Los Angeles’s Philippe the Original, which also claimed to have invented the French dip sandwich, has competed with Cole’s for the title of originator for more than a century.
In 2008, Moses’s 213 Nightlife (which became Pouring With Heart), acquired Cole’s and reopened it after a $1.6 million restoration.
Moses and Pouring With Heart continue to operate nightlife locations in downtown Los Angeles, including Las Perlas across the street from Cole’s, as well as Tony’s Saloon in the Arts District.
The website message includes information about purchasing Cole’s.
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