Philippe’s? Nope, never made it there. The Pantry was great
in the early 60’s, great food at great prices. All the waiters knew most of us from USC and always piled the food on.
A lot of us working our way through only had one really good
meal a day and they knew it. Rumor had it that the place was
started as a way to give ex-cons a job when they got out of the joint.
The old guy waiters were there for years, and I don't remember them ever writing down our order. I remember the omelets were way too big for the plates.
Darn, I'm getting hungry.
BTW - Do you recall Coopers Donuts? I remember them being all over downtown. I used to work graveyard and the guys would always go to Coopers for a donut and a 10 cent cup of coffee. In fact, Philippes used to charge a nickel a cup.
Of course, when I worked days, we had one of guys pickup some Hollenbeck Burritos at Manuels El Tepeyac in East L.A. The grease would soak through the cardboard box by the time they got back with the food...