Espanol Italian Restaurant (Gone)
Sacramento, CA Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
Traveling along Folsom Boulevard in Sacramento, check out the colorful neon sign for Espanol Italian Restaurant. Español serving Italian dinners? What is wrong with this picture? Add in the arrow, all those different colors, and the promise of a full dinner, and there was certainly enough happening on the sign to make passing motorists curious.
The name made more sense once the restaurant’s history was known. Español opened in 1923 as a Basque boardinghouse restaurant serving Spanish sheepherders. Frank “Babe” Luigi purchased the business in 1959 and replaced the Basque menu with Italian food. The Español name already had a loyal following, so it stayed right where it was.
Every entree became part of a family-style meal with minestrone soup, garlic bread, salad, and spumoni ice cream. That combination helped make Español a Sacramento tradition, even if the Spanish name and Italian menu continued to confuse anyone seeing the sign for the first time.
UPDATE: Español permanently closed in August 2020 after 97 years in business. Its neon sign was removed in December and preserved by a local collector. The building reopened in 2021 as Mattone Ristorante, keeping Italian food at the old Español location. 09-26
Luis's Mexican Food (Gone)
Sacramento, CA Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
Hungry for Mexican food and willing to stop at the first eye-catching sign? The colorful neon marquee outside Luis's Mexican Food Restaurant certainly handled that part of the bargain. With big lettering glowing beside Alhambra Boulevard, it gave passing motorists a good reason to slow down.
Mexican immigrant Luis J. Leyva opened the restaurant in 1965. Luis’s became a Sacramento institution known for its food, welcoming owner, and walls covered with photographs of Luis posing with customers, politicians, and athletes.
UPDATE: After Luis died in 2003, the restaurant closed the following year. The vacant building was demolished around 2014–2015, and the property remains cleared for redevelopment. The neon sign was removed, and its fate is unknown. 09-26
La Hacienda Restaurant (Gone)
Cloverdale, CA Photo courtesy Devil Doll
Cruising through downtown Cloverdale, check out all the glowing neon surrounding La Hacienda Restaurant. The enormous marquee looked more like the entrance to an old movie theater than a Mexican restaurant, complete with a towering blade sign and layers of neon stretching over the sidewalk. A separate cocktail-glass sign mounted to the building added even more color to the show.
La Hacienda stood along Cloverdale Boulevard, which carried Highway 101 traffic through the middle of town before the freeway bypass opened. With all that neon blazing after dark, it must have been difficult for hungry travelers to pass without at least slowing down for a look. If the big roadside marquee did not get their attention, the glowing cocktail glass probably finished the job.
Inside, the restaurant continued the atmosphere with carved wooden chairs, colorful murals, leatherette furnishings, and a dimly lit lounge. The wonderfully moody setting looked like something from an old movie, making La Hacienda almost as memorable for its appearance as its food. It was just the sort of place where a quiet dinner could feel like the opening scene of a slightly mysterious road movie.
La Hacienda Restaurant
Cloverdale, CA Photo courtesy Devil Doll
The restaurant remained a familiar downtown landmark for decades under the ownership of Delia and her family. Between the food, lounge, and spectacular collection of neon, La Hacienda brought plenty of nighttime color to Cloverdale’s old highway strip.
UPDATE: La Hacienda closed in 2022 when its longtime owners retired. The building reopened as La Tequila Mexican Restaurant, but the theater-style marquee, cocktail glass, and other vintage neon were removed during the transition. Their whereabouts remain unknown. 09-26
El Torito
San Francisco, CA Photo courtesy Richard Weiss / 1976
In this photo taken over 30 years ago, the owner of a new Ford Pinto had stopped for chow long at El Torito before Mexican food became common place in the Midwest. This shade of green was second only to brown as the color of choice for 1970's cars. Many thanks to Richard Weiss for info. 07-07
Larry Cano opened the first El Torito in Encino in 1954, converting a former tiki bar into a Mexican restaurant. The festive cantina concept spread across California, making its name familiar well before this San Francisco dinner stop.
UPDATE: El Torito continues operating California restaurants under Xperience Restaurant Group. This 1976 San Francisco scene recalls an earlier chapter in the chain’s history. 10-26
El Torito
