Taix (restaurant) facts for kids

Taix is a famous French restaurant in Los Angeles, California. It first opened its doors in 1927. The restaurant has different areas for eating, including private rooms, big banquet halls for events, and a special area called the 321 Lounge where you can enjoy drinks and live music. Taix is currently located at 1911 Sunset Boulevard in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.

How Taix Began

The Taix family came to Los Angeles from the Hautes-Alpes region of France in 1870. They started a hotel in downtown Los Angeles. In the mid-1800s, about 20% of the people in Los Angeles were French immigrants. The area that is now Chinatown used to have a French hospital, a French theater, and even a French newspaper.

The first Taix restaurant was run by Marius Taix, Marius Taix, Jr., and Louis Larquier. It was a relaxed place that served French country-style meals at long tables where everyone sat together. The building was made of brick and had a tin ceiling, fancy hanging lights, and dark wood floors.

A Popular Spot in Downtown Los Angeles

Because of its location near government buildings, the restaurant was very popular with people who worked for the city and reporters from the Los Angeles Times newspaper. The Los Angeles Times even had its own special table reserved there. When the first restaurant was torn down, the newspaper said that many important and well-known people from Los Angeles used to eat there.

The original building at 321 Commercial Street was once a pharmacy owned by Marius Taix. During a time called Prohibition, when alcohol was illegal, the restaurant secretly served "medicinal" wine to city officials and special customers in a private room. The first Taix restaurant closed in 1964. The city of Los Angeles bought the building and replaced it with a parking lot.

Moving to Echo Park

Two years before the first restaurant closed, Marius Taix Jr. and Louis Larquier opened a new Taix in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. The New York Times newspaper described the new restaurant's look as "Los Angeles chalet," which means it looked like a cozy mountain house.

In 1970, food critic Lois Dwan said that Taix served "bountiful portions of simply prepared foods and moderate prices." This means they gave you a lot of simple, tasty food for a fair price. Today, Taix is a popular place for baseball fans to eat before or after a game at nearby Dodger Stadium. The 321 Lounge is named after the restaurant's first address at 321 Commercial Street.

The Future of Taix

In 2019, Michael Taix, who is the fourth generation of the Taix family to own the restaurant, sold it to people who develop real estate. These developers plan to replace the restaurant with a tall apartment building. In October 2020, the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission started talking about making the Taix building a "City of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument." This would help protect the building because of its history and importance.