L.A. County’s Oldest Restaurant Is A 139-Year-Old Classic Diner — Serving Icons Like Frank Sinatra Since 1886

Far from the shimmering city lights and the sophisticated luxury of the upscale corners in town, quietly sitting north of L.A., this diner seems stuck in time. The mugs, the couches, the counter, the signs, and even the menu are a clear portrait of a recent past that shaped the present. Saugus Café first opened its doors in 1886–1888 as a small railroad café, as *Saugus Eating House* under James Herbert Tolfree, who ran it at the north end of the railroad depot. Both the train stop and the eatery took their name from the hometown of local developer Henry Newhall, Saugus, Massachusetts, *SCV* explains. By the late 1890s, brothers Richard and Martin Wood took over the business, renaming it Saugus Café in 1899. In 1916, Martin moved it across the street to Railroad Avenue, near where it still stands today, according to *Eater LA.* Over the decades, the café was rebuilt several times, from a modest wood-frame eatery to larger brick and stucco structures, until the current building was erected in 1952. Throughout its long history, the diner became more than just a roadside stop. It became the place that welcomed presidents like Benjamin Harrison and Theodore Roosevelt, and Hollywood icons, such as Frank Sinatra, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, John Wayne, Gary Cooper, and Marlene Dietrich, who would stop in while filming Westerns in the Santa Clarita Valley, as stated by *SF Gate.* But big names aside, for generations of locals, Saugus Café has been a community hub, the kind of place where families celebrated milestones, where late-night coffee sustained workers, and where regulars always had “their booth.” Even through ownership changes and financial struggles, the café has endured, quietly serving the valley for nearly 140 years. In October 2022, the café was officially honored with a dedication plaque recognizing it as the oldest operating restaurant in Los Angeles County. The ceremony was not just about marking dates: it was a public reminder that while much of L.A. reinvents itself every decade, some pieces of its past remain, holding their ground with quiet resilience. Source: https://secretlosangeles.com/la-county-oldest-restaurant-saugus-cafe/