The Street Seen: The Rose
220 Rose Ave, Venice
After 45 years, The Rose, a Venice icon since it opened in 1979, will permanently close its doors. The last day of business is Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024.
From 1905 until 1976, the property from Rose Ave1 to Sunset Ave between Hampton Dr and Main St is used for the production and storage of domestic gas. In 1977, the Richlar Partnership purchases the property2 from the Southern California Gas Company. Richlar plans to upgrade the existing 45,000 sq-ft office building and construct 100,000 sq-ft of new commercial space. In April 1978, the Coastal Commission denies approval of the Richlar project.3
In 1979, Manhar Patel and Naresh Mehra4 convert the vacant gas company office building5 at 220 Rose Ave into a neighborhood café.
The interior of the 1-story vacant gas company6 office building is gutted. The drop ceiling removed to expose steel trusses and a wooden roof. Given the gallery-like atmosphere of the space, the cafe instantly doubles as an art gallery, paying homage to local artists and Venice history. Inspired by Paris coffeehouses, The Rose is among the first restaurants in the area to serve freshly baked croissants7 and real coffee.
In 1986, there is a re-arrangement of the ownership. Manhar Patel and Kamal Kapur run The Rose. Manhar and Margaret Patel run Dhaba. Naresh Mehra and Leiko Hamada run the Firehouse Restaurant.8 In 2009 The Rose turns 30, and owners Patel and Kapur undertake a face-lift.
In 2015, a new partnership9 undertakes a significant renovation - closing The Rose for nine months and re-opening with a $750,000 kitchen, a 200-seat dining room, and a new chef. The space is overhauled exposing the cast-in-place concrete walls to give the cafe a more industrial, sleek feel. The Rose logo is preserved.
Acclaimed chef Jason Neroni revitalizes the menu with globally influenced dishes while preserving the restaurant's community roots.
Following Neroni's departure in December 2023, chef Ray Garcia takes over the culinary operations in February 2024. Despite his reputation and efforts to lead the kitchen, the restaurant decides to cease operations.
Forty-five years is really something - 'I thought that place would be there forever'
Rose Ave is established with J.D. Machado & Juan Bernard’s 1887 subdivision of the Ocean Tract. Anderson Rose (1836 - 1902), for whom Rose Avenue is named, leaves Missouri in 1852 and acquires a share of the partitioned Rancho La Ballona. He is the first American settler on Rancho La Ballona. The 1,000-acre Rose ranch extends south of Washington and from Lincoln east to Centinela. Rose breeds cattle and draft horses and operates a dairy that produces cheese, butter, and milk. While most of the ranch is uncultivated, Rose grows lima beans, sugar beets, walnuts, and other cash crops. Rose appointed the district “roadmaster” and is responsible for maintaining district roads.
Richlar purchases the 97.9-ft x 157.2-ft 220 and 230 Rose Ave property (comprised of Lots 1, 2, & 3 of Block T of Machado & Bernard’s 1887 Ocean Tract) for $1MM.
The $2MM Richlar project would add 100,000 sq-ft of retail shops, commercial offices, and artists’ studios. Architect Frank Gehry is involved in the project. The existing 1-story office building is a proposed art museum - with hints about the Frederick Weisman collection. In 1978, Venice and Ocean Park residents, concerned over traffic and the scale, appeal approval of the project to the recently formed Coastal Commission.
Manhar Patel and Naresh Mehra meet at UCLA as engineering graduate students. They open an Indian restaurant which fails, before opening healthy homestyle Indian regional cuisine restaurant Dhaba on Main St in 1972. Inspired by Marche Mouffetard in Paris, they open The Rose - Cafe & Market in 1979.
In 1938, the Southern Counties Gas Company constructs a $15,000 45-ft by 96-ft, 1-story distribution headquarters office building (220 Rose) with a wood roof on steel framing and cast-in-place concrete walls. In 1951, Southern Counties Gas Company removes several structures from the site. The interior of the headquarters building (220 Rose Ave) is extensively remodeled.
Southern California Edison operates a manufactured gas plant that produces gas from coal from 1905 until 1916, when the plant is sold to the Southern Counties Gas Company.
In 1956, the 1923 low-pressure gas storage tank is dismantled - gas is now stored in an underground storage facility in Playa Del Rey.
In 1970, the Southern Counties Gas Company merges with the Southern California Gas Company. In 1977, the Southern California Gas Company sells the property to Richlar.
To supply pastries for The Rose, Patel and Mehra open their own bakery in the Firehouse across Rose Ave.
Restaurateur Bill Chait under his former restaurant group, Sprout, opens some of Los Angeles’s most notable restaurants, including République and Bestia. Patel and Kapur, operating co-owners of The Rose, become passive partners in the new operation.