'Hood #39: Mar Vista & a Goodbye

For my 39th LA neighborhood, I went to Mar Vista—specifically, to Pepy's Galley diner, which, after more than 50 years, is going to close on June 30.  The reason: it's part of the Mar Vista Bowl bowling alley that's been bought out by BowlmorAMF, which will boot out this genuinely retro diner so they can remodel and open a—ready for it?— faux retro diner.

Anyway, I read about it in the local paper, and I wanted to go there and show my support in their final days. I'm not a regular customer—in fact, I've never been—but they're not being closed due to lack of business but, rather, in the name of "progress." Now, I understand the new owners have a right to remodel, and that it wasn't feasible to remodel the bowling alley and not the diner, but it's still a big bummer.  I can't help but feel sorry for the diner's owner, 74-year old Joseph "Pepy" Gonzalez (who greeted my friend MJ and me as we arrived), as well as sad that another faceless corporate business is taking over a mom & pop shop.

The place was packed on a Friday at lunchtime, and the prices, for the record, were cheap.  I got a huge turkey melt and fries for $6.95 and took half of it home.

As for Mar Vista, I was already familiar with the 'hood, as it's located between Palms (where I live) and Venice and is close enough that it was about a 30-minute bike ride each way.