Property Owner Raising Cane's seeks to evict Norms La Cienega after 67 Years

Gentle reader,

This morning, the Cultural Heritage Commission agenda for its December 5 meeting was published, with a worrying item #4:

MONUMENT: NORM’S LA CIENEGA COFFEE SHOP, HCM #1090: Informational presentation on the proposed rehabilitation of the Monument for a new restaurant use. Commission Review and Comment. Owner/Applicant: Raising Canes Restaurants LLC.

Thanks to an all-hands-on-deck preservation battle in 2015, Norms La Cienega is a protected L.A. landmark and the oldest Norms still operating (est. 1957), a rare 24-hour family style restaurant much beloved by the local community and fans of Armét & Davis’ exuberant Googie architecture. And it still flies the penant style sawtooth sign with the name of founder Norm Roybark.

Raising Cane’s bought the building for $16 Million in 2021, becoming the coffee shop’s landlord. Now it appears they intend to evict Norms!

On Thursday 12/5 at 10am, fans of this cultural, architectural and community landmark are urged to attend the Cultural Heritage Commission hearing in person at City Hall, or call/Zoom in, to make public comment letting the CHC and Raising Cane’s corporate know what this 67-year-old legacy business in its landmark Googie style building means to them, and how losing Norms would make them feel. Emails can also be sent.

The CHC has no power over what type of business operates in a landmarked commercial building; they only protect the physical features called out in the landmark designation. But public opinion matters to a big national chain like Raising Cane’s, and this is your chance to be heard.

To participate in the Cultural Heritage Commission Hearing, see the agenda with full instructions: https://ens.lacity.org/pln/heritage/plnheritage1217184825_12052024.pdf

If attending in person, City Hall is at 200 N Spring Street, but you enter on the Main Street side. Leave time to go through security. The meeting is held in room 1010, beginning at 10am.

Comments will be limited to one minute, so we recommend writing it down, timing yourself and reading from a script.

If making comment in person, fill in a speaker’s card when you arrive in room 1010 and you’ll be called on by name.

If making comment by Zoom or phone, see the agenda link, then follow the instructions when item #4 is called.

If sending an email, keep it under two pages, use subject line “Item #4: NORM’S LA CIENEGA COFFEE SHOP, HCM #1090,” address it “dear Cultural Heritage Commissioners” and send ASAP to chc@lacity.org.

And if you’d like to know more about Norms and its architecture, you can read the landmark nomination prepared by the Los Angeles Conservancy’s late, great Modern Committee here. Then watch Alison Martino’s recent SoCal Scene visit to her favorite diner with retro Americana maven Charles Phoenix, to learn about how the chain is growing and why this particular Norms is a national treasure that inspired Mad Men, Ed Ruscha and so much more.

We’ll update this newsletter with any additional information you might need as Angelenos come together to stand up for a true Southern California icon, our beloved and once again endangered Norms La Cienega Coffee Shop!

We’re off this weekend for the holiday, but return December 7-8 with a packed weekend of exploration. Saturday’s tour is an ascent from the old streetcar line on Sunset Boulevard to get to know a miraculous (and only slightly manufactured) Victorian time capsule, Angelino Heights & Carroll Avenue. Join us for a deep dive into suburban development and visionary preservation, Chinatown locations and daring girl detectives, ancient trees, atomic age anxiety and the only real ghost story you’ll hear on an Esotouric tour—because it happened on one of them!

And on Sunday, it’s Know Your Downtown L.A., featuring a time travel tramp around Bunker Hill with native son Gordon Pattison, speakeasy tunnel relics and what might be our last chance to visit the tiled marvel Dutch Chocolate Shop before the building changes hands. Join us, do!

And a gentle reminder that we got subpoenaed for third party discovery in the lawsuit by the Marilyn Monroe house owners, and are fundraising to cover our legal expenses with a 20% off holiday sale on bulk gift certificates. Or just buy one ticket or some merch—it all helps!

Yours for Los Angeles,

Kim & Richard

Esotouric

---

Are you on social media? We’re on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky, Substack Notes, TikTok and Reddit sharing preservation news as it happens.

---

Our work—leading tours and historic preservation and cultural landmark advocacy—is about building a bridge between Los Angeles' past and its future, and not allowing the corrupt, greedy, inept and misguided players who hold present power to destroy the city's soul and body. If you’d like to support our efforts to be the voice of places worth preserving, we have a tip jar and a subscriber edition of our main newsletter, vintage Los Angeles webinars available to stream, in-person tours and a souvenir shop you can browse in. We’ve also got recommended reading bookshelves on Amazon and the Bookshop indie bookstore site. And did you know we offer private versions of our walking tours for groups big or small? Or just share this link with other people who care.

---

UPCOMING BUS & WALKING TOURS

• Angelino Heights & Carroll Avenue (Sat. 12/7) • Know Your Downtown L.A. (Sun. 11/8) • Raymond Chandler’s Noir Downtown Los Angeles (Sat. 12/14) • Miracle Mile Marvels & Madness (Sun. 12/22) • Human Sacrifice: The Black Dahlia, Elisa Lam, Heidi Planck & Skid Row Slasher (Thurs. 12/26) • Angelino Heights & Carroll Avenue (Sat. 1/18) • Broadway (Sat. 1/25) • Evergreen Cemetery, 1877 (Sat. 2/1) • Film Noir / Real Noir (Sat. 2/8) • The Real Black Dahlia (Sat. 3/1) • Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice Downtown L.A. (Sat. 3/8) • Bunker Hill, Dead and Alive (Sat. 3/15) • Raymond Chandler’s Noir Downtown Los Angeles (Sat. 3/22) • Franklin Village Old Hollywood (Sun. 3/30) • John Fante’s Downtown L.A. (Sat. 4/5) • Angelino Heights & Carroll Avenue (Sat. 4/12) • Leo Politi Loves Los Angeles (Sat. 4/19) • Downtown Los Angeles is for Book Lovers (Sat. 4/26)