dupar’s/13″/dt1st/mark2nd
By NOLA L. SARKISIAN
Staff Reporter
The wood-back counter stools have been replaced and the menu now includes Caesar salads. But one thing at Du-par’s is the same as it was decades ago: the price of pie.
At least it will be on Tuesday and Wednesday. In honor of the chain’s 60th anniversary, cherry pie slices will go for 15 cents on Oct. 27 and pot pies will sell for 60 cents on Oct. 28 at the three Du-par’s locations: Farmers Market, Studio City and Thousand Oaks.
“My dad and I were planning this months ago and we argued about what we would sell. I thought we’d roll back the price on hotcakes, but he pointed out that we don’t have the grill space. He was right,” said Shirley Oberst Kauffman, vice president and general manager of the family-owned Du-par’s Restaurants. Her father Herbert Oberst took over ownership of the chain in the early 1970s and died three months ago at the age of 69.
Du-par’s is one of the last of its kind in Los Angeles, a genuine all-American diner (and not a 1950s fantasy imitation).
It started out in 1938 when business partners James Dunn and Edward Parsons (thus Du-par’s) opened a seven-stool shop (or nine stools, a subject that is still debated) at Farmers Market. At one point there were nine locations throughout Los Angeles, but the local chain was reduced to three sites as leases expired or buildings grew too old to repair.
“I’m still looking to expand if we found a good location,” Kauffman said. “People keep calling me to give me locations. Glendale customers still call and ask when I’m coming back.”
Why the loyalty? “When I was growing up, every Sunday we used to go out to Du-par’s for breakfast. My dad was the most loyal customer, insisting that the fresh food and prices couldn’t be beat, and he was right,” said Susan Creamer, 51, finishing off a veggie omelet at the Farmer’s Market location. “I haven’t been here in 15 years and it still looks the same.”
Save for new farm-animal wallpaper, full-color menus, checkerboard curtains and the waitresses’ black-and-white checkered uniforms, the atmosphere doesn’t change much, agreed Kauffman.
She said the folksy feel hails from her father, who came to California in 1957 and worked at Clifton’s Cafeteria before joining Du-par’s as an assistant manager in 1961. Oberst rose through the ranks to general manager, president and eventually owner.
Another thing that tends not to change much is the help: Some of the same waitresses who were slinging hash at the diner decades ago are still working tables.
“(Oberst) was a great man and I respected him dearly,” said waitress Ginette Nicolle, 68, who started in 1958. “We all work wonderfully together here. It’s comfortable, it’s fun and the tips are nice. Why would I want to leave?”
