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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Casa Vega Keeps Tradition Alive as Boulevard Changes

BY CHRIS COATES Staff Reporter Rafael Vega loses count of the number of neighboring restaurants along Ventura Boulevard that have closed since he opened Casa Vega 50 years ago. Once lined with eateries like Rondelli’s, Barone’s Famous Italian Restaurant and Iron Horse, Ventura today is a blur of strip malls, chain restaurants and ubiquitous coffee houses. But the tan-colored, Christmas-light-trimmed pueblo known as Casa Vega remains. It’s for a simple reason, according to Vega. “It’s the combination of the food and the drinks and the service,” says Vega, 72, sitting in the wood paneled office near his Sherman Oaks restaurant. Since 1956, Casa Vega with its oversized bushes carved into “C” and “V” out front has been slinging countless plates of pollo en mole, chile relleno and other south-of-the-border specialties to hungry Valley residents (not to mention formidable peach, coconut and raspberry margaritas). The sheer longevity has brought the kitschy eatery ringed in bullfight paintings a cadre of culinary fans willing to wait in long lines for a chance to sit in Casa Vega’s candy apple red booths. “There probably isn’t a day when I don’t hear from someone who says they have been coming here since they were 5 years old,” Vega says. Down in Old Mexico Born in Tijuana, Vega immigrated to Los Angeles as a child, settling in Burbank. In the late 1930s, the family opened a restaurant on Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles. The hands-on training became practical when Vega was drafted into the Army: He soon secured a place on cooking duty. Vega went on to formal culinary arts classes in San Francisco, around which time he began thinking of opening his own place. At age 22, with his mother’s recipes, a small business loan and some money from his parents, he opened Casa Vega sometime in June 1956. (The exact date has slipped Vega’s mind. “Being 50 years ago, I don’t know when we started,” he says with a chuckle.) The space at Ventura Boulevard and Mary Ellen Avenue sat around 45 people, but business was swift, albeit cramped. So when a corner property two blocks west became available a few years, Vega jumped at the chance. The new site, a former steakhouse at Ventura Boulevard and Fulton Avenue, sat 145. In the 1950s, Mexican restaurants were something of a rarity, even in Southern California. That changed with Casa Vega, whose exotic food and drinks drew raves. Soon, people were lined up outside the door. Today, Casa Vega employs 65, some of whom have been on the job for 40 years. The restaurant has grown consistently every year, Vega said, today bringing in about $4.2 million annually. Vega said it didn’t come easy. “If you want to start a business, you have to be willing to work seven-days-a-week, 16 hours-a-day,” he says matter-of-factly. Change with the times The other key, Vega said, is to make sure to embrace change. “A lot is timing,” he said. “You have to change with the times.” For example, when the trend of health-conscious dining became popular, Vega eliminated cooking with lard. When he heard that patrons wanted to stay at the restaurant after its 11 p.m. closing, Vega expanded its hours. The kitchen now serves food until 1 a.m., with the restaurant closing at 2 in the morning. That means Casa Vega is one of the handful of restaurants open to night owls looking for a bite to eat, he said. “We get a lot of the studio people,” he said. There’s the celebrity factor too: George Clooney and Jennifer Aniston have been spotted in the dark interior. (The exterior, meanwhile, is featured in the film “Valley Girl.) There have been challenges, although Vega deftly glosses over them. The big issue is parking, which should change after the small bungalow that houses the company’s offices is demolished, allowing the existing lot to expand. Success story While Vega is recognized in the Valley, he is lesser known for his accomplishments outside Sherman Oaks. That path started back in 1958, when Vega landed a lucrative catering contract providing meals to a military base in Nevada. That led to the creation of Vega Enterprises, which eventually grew to include 275 employees with annual sales of $60 million, he said. From there, Vega created a laundry list of businesses, from a check cashing service to a marketing firm, food distributor, dairy company and vending service. He also at one point partially owned the Las Vegas Telemundo affiliate. Vega eventually sold off many of those interests, deciding instead to concentrate on the original restaurant, he said. The experience, however, made Vega well known in political circles throughout the southwest. President Nixon in 1976 nominated him to the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco and Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty named him to the Sister Cities Committee and Department of Social Services Commission. He has also served on the Civil Service Board of Trustees for Las Vegas and the State of Nevada Selection Committee, to name a few. In one corner of his office is a painting of a smiling Vega in black suit and bow tie. Beneath it reads, “Honorary Consult General of Mexico,” a post he held representing Las Vegas from 1996 to 2001. Vega is not ashamed of his success. Today, he lives about two miles from the restaurant in a Studio City home built by Mickey Rooney (and once owned by Tom Green and Drew Barrymore). “I live very nicely,” he said. “I know what is to be without money and I know what it is to be with money.” While his daughter, Christina Vega Fowler, is poised to take over the family business, Vega is adamant that he does not plan to slow down. He still works five days a week, five or six hours a day. Vega says shepherding the business day-to-day gives him his reserve of energy. “I tell everybody I’m 59 again,” he says. Michael Chibidakis is president of the Sherman Oaks Chamber of Commerce and recently went to lunch at Casa Vega, where a youthful Vega was full of stories. Chibidakis said that energy comes across in the restaurant. “That’s why people keep going back. If you have lousy food and you have lousy service, you’re not going to last in business,” he said. “I think it starts with the people he hires. He really takes care of his people.”

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