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REY MARIN: Hey, everybody. My name is Rey Marin from Los Angeles Hangout Local. Your
guide to great local businesses. Today, I'm joined by Craig Martin, whoís the owner of
CafÈ 50ís. And I think CafÈ 50ís is one of the best West L.A., most popular neighborhood
diner.
CRAIG MARTIN: Thank you.
REY MARIN: So Craig, welcome and thank you very much for joining me today.
CRAIG MARTIN: Thank you, Rey. Thanks for stopping by.
REY MARIN: My pleasure. Hey, Craig, give us a little background of your business. How
did you get started in this business?
CRAIG MARTIN: Well, I put my first restaurant when I was 23. I was a waiter and I also had
a second job at TGI Fridays that was a cook. So I was a cook in the morning and a waiter
at night. And then I teamed up with the chef that I knew and then we opened a restaurant,
a French Bistro out in Northridge. But all along I wanted to open up this diner, and
so I had some partners that found a place in Venice. And then I said, ìHey, I have
a great concept for 50ís diner.î And so we were the first diner to open up in L.A.
REY MARIN: Were you pretty in shake about the 50ís, is that what started you here?
CRAIG MARTIN: Well, I was like 50ís music. I grew up in Germany. I listened to the Armed
Forces American radio.
REY MARIN: Okay.
CRAIG MARTIN: And I used to see a Wolfman Jack show and it was like an old show called
Old ____ they played 50ís music.
REY MARIN: Okay.
CRAIG MARTIN: So I really get to like music. And so when I moved here I would travel across
Oklahoma and would seize the wall boxes that we have up on the wallsÖ
REY MARIN: Right.
CRAIG MARTIN: And that are hooked in jukeboxes and I just thought that itís just fantastic.
And I love diners. I love the stain of steel that they use behind the cooking lines. I
like exhibition cooking.
REY MARIN: Hey, guys. This is the wallÖ
CRAIG MARTIN: Wall box.
REY MARIN: Ö wall box [crosstalk].
CRAIG MARTIN: Yes, you could put pages and then youíd slick through here. You get three
songs for a quarter.
REY MARIN: This is awesome.
CRAIG MARTIN: Ten cents for one song. And those are 50ís ____ by the way.
REY MARIN: So did you always want to be a restaurant owner?
CRAIG MARTIN: Yes, I did. Actually, when I was working as a cook and as a waiter, I really
like the restaurant business and I always want to know my own place. And after opening
my first restaurant, I finally got to open a diner, the way I wanted it to be. The first
one was in Venice. And then I opened this place a few years later. We've been here 25
years now.
REY MARIN: Twenty-five years. Gosh. Your silver anniversary, is that it?
CRAIG MARTIN: Is twenty-five, silver ñ yeah. ____.
[laughter]
REY MARIN: Well, so CraigÖ
CRAIG MARTIN: My restaurant is that lasts most marriages.
REY MARIN: There you go guys. [laughter] So do you get a lot of celebrities coming in
every so often?
CRAIG MARTIN: Yes. Adam Sandler comes in with his kids. Quentin Tarantino came here right
before he filmed the movie Pulp Fiction. But that, we hope to think that he was a little
inspired when he did that over the top 50ís diner where the sitting where two of the sitting
with Uma Thurman. And, yeah, and also points to our love of jukebox, because we love the
songs we have. We have some pretty obscure 50ís songs. I mean not mainstream 50ís that
you hear or a maybe ñ on an oldie _____, some real classic 50ís songs and that we
used to love play _____. They came here a lot just to our music.
REY MARIN: How large is your library here?
CRAIG MARTIN: Well, we have 20 songs in our jukebox and we also have a backup system.
So when the jukebox isnít playing, we have constant music playing.
REY MARIN: Okay.
CRAIG MARTIN: Our music ranges in the jukebox from 1950 to ë63.
REY MARIN: Wow. Now, please tell us what makes CafÈ 50ís stands out as a neighborhood diner?
CRAIG MARTIN: Well, one of our customers walked here ñ but then again, we have people who
drive long distances like, we do pajama night on the last Wednesday of the month. We call
it whack Wednesday. People drive-in 15, 20 miles to be here.
REY MARIN: And how long do you guys stays out?
CRAIG MARTIN: Well, we're open till midnight every night.
REY MARIN: Okay.
CRAIG MARTIN: In fact, we get really busy at 10 oíclock. The most restaurants start
shutting down, so every night during the week between 10 and midnight, we get nice and lots
of people in here.
REY MARIN: Thatís awesome. Sounds like a lot of fun.
CRAIG MARTIN: Yes.
[laughter]
REY MARIN: Now, youíre in a very competitive industry, okay. And what do you do to make
your restaurant so appealing to your customers?
CRAIG MARTIN: Well, I think itís ñ well, first start with reasonable prices and great
food, varied menu, daily specials. We have fresh fish every day. Sometimes weíll do
a special burger like, right now you can have a ñ sometimes we do a salmon burger, in addition
to traditional things like, pork chops and meatloaf. We ñ our Walter Wafers are amazing.
REY MARIN: And thatís besides breakfast orÖ
[laughter]
CRAIG MARTIN: Well, we serve breakfast all day.
REY MARIN: Ö is that right.
CRAIG MARTIN: In fact, _____ is one of the breakfast factors in Los Angeles.
REY MARIN: Is that right.
REY MARIN: Yeah.
CRAIG MARTIN: That is just awesome.
REY MARIN: Hey, better than in Venice guys.
CRAIG MARTIN: Hey, I just love breakfast, so I insisted when I opened my first diner
got to serve breakfast all day long.
REY MARIN: Thatís awesome. So tell us about your specialties, since we're talking about
menus and food andÖ
CRAIG MARTIN: Well, one thing we're known for is we have forty-two different shakes.
Like hereís our shake list some pictures on it. We have forty-two different milk shakes
and very popular. And letís see ñ our hamburgers are all popular, a lot of sandwiches. We also
have garlic cheese fries. We have addition like Walter Wafers. Our Walter Wafers are
amazing.
REY MARIN: Yeah, _____.
CRAIG MARTIN: They're really good, really good. And _____ omelets ñ nice big, fluffy,
great omelets, also very popular.
REY MARIN: You know, what guys, why donít you guys come over this weekend and join me
for breakfast over here. Sounds like a great idea? [laughter]
CRAIG MARTIN: And so on the weekends we have grits, the stone-ground grits. They come from
Belvidere, Tennessee. In fact, the shipping costs more than the grits do, everyone says
we're the best grits you can get here in Los Angeles and I believe it. Most places are
instant grits. These are real homemade, made from scratch grits.
REY MARIN: A typical ñ your very popular southern grits, guys.
CRAIG MARTIN: Yes. Southern style. Yeah.
REY MARIN: So for someone whoís in a ñ oh, by the way, for someone whoís never been
to your restaurant. Say first-time visitors, what would they expect coming up in here?
CRAIG MARTIN: Well, first, just walking in itís a visual carnival of things to see.
REY MARIN: Check this out guys. This is what heís talking about.
CRAIG MARTIN: As you can see, we have ñ these are tropic vases, I've put together to the
wall even the ceilings. Take a quick peek pan up to the ceiling. See the sandwich _____
is on the ceiling. Those cans ñ those are old-fashioned miniature cans _____ covering
baked built cans not like today. That bicycle you see hanging there, thatís a Schwinn bicycle
on 1958. _____ I'm collecting about. See the flag, the 48-Star American flag? Thatís just
_____ and white came 40, 1958 states. And I'm always adding, always finding things to
put on the walls.
REY MARIN: A lot of nostalgia here guys.
CRAIG MARTIN: Yeah, our other room is classical setup like a diner and this side is more like
a museum, so are kind of a memorabilia room. In fact, I tell people every time they come
here and say, ìI guarantee that you can see something new every time you're here in the
restaurant.
REY MARIN: Thatís awesome. Okay, Craig, as always in Los Angeles Hangout Local, we like
to offer our viewers a special coupon that they can use in your business. Tell us what
special deal you're offering to our audience.
CRAIG MARTIN: Well, what do we do a 20% off between now and the end of May. The Killer
Coke and you get to try our good menu and get a 20% discount.
REY MARIN: Heard that guys 20% discount across the board. So thatís until the end of May.
You guys can check the coupon here on the website at losangeleshangoutlocal.com. So
Craig, terrific interview. Thank you very much for taking your time.
CRAIG MARTIN: Okay. If there are any more questions, they can go to our website cafe50s.com
and maybe excited about the menu, so figure out what do you want to get to our 20% discount
on, alright?
REY MARIN: Alright, guys. I really like CafÈ 50ís because they really care about their
customers and they want to make sure that they make you happy and satisfied. If you
already clicked on restaurant, go over here. Go ahead and if you need coupon if you like
and also to save some money. And if you have not been here yet, now is your chance to get
your coupon, take advantage of that and just enjoy your next visit, alright. And thanks
again for taking some time here and for joining us. Until next time, have a great day.
CRAIG MARTIN: Thank you, Rey.
REY MARIN: Thank you, Craig.