‘Our view was better than Cliff House’: Diner family shocked, it may never open

English

When he learned that there were no plans to open his family’s former restaurant, Tom Hontalas was at a loss.

“I was blown away,” said Hontalas, a former co-owner of Louis’ restaurant. “You’d think they’d want to make some money.”

Greek immigrants Louis and Helen Hontalas opened Louis’ on Valentine’s Day in 1937, and in its 83 years of operation, three generations of the Hontalas family have served classics including hamburgers, sandwiches and pancakes with stunning ocean views.

But unlike its seaside neighbor, Cliff House, the National Park Service isn’t looking for new business to take over Louie’s business.

“I think our view was better than Cliff House. “You could see all the Sutro baths, Seal Rock, Cape Marin,” Ontalas said. “It’s a good place and it would be nice to see what someone will do with this place.”

Shutdown

The demise of Louis was caused by the pandemic – the restaurant was not suitable for outdoor seating due to the steep pavement and cold weather. Export was banned because the high commissions of the courier service were too expensive for the business. According to Gontalas, they also didn’t want to take credit cards, as the diner always only accepted cash.

“Maybe someone who was new wanted to change things, but at that point in our lives, that wasn’t where we were,” Hontalas said.

Louie’s lease was due to expire at the end of 2020, and due to uncertainty about when they could reopen, they decided to close, seeing it as the only financially viable option.

Memories of Louis

Tom Hontalas started working at the restaurant in 1968, a year after his brother Bill. They each started washing dishes at age 10, but by the late 1970s, they co-owned the restaurant with their father, Jim, who passed away in 1997.

Now that the building is empty, only memories remain of Louis.

According to Gontalas, the regulars at Louis knew the waitress Rachel Lelchuk well, she worked there for 55 years, from 1947 to 2002 she worked in an open shift every day. She always remembered her clients’ orders when they next came. She passed away in 2016.

“She had hundreds of repeat customers,” Onthalas said. “She was as much a part of Louis as the Ontalas family were.”

She didn’t have a car, so Jim and later Tom would pick her up from her house on 46th Avenue in Sunset at 4:00 a.m. to open a restaurant.

According to Gontalas, another thing that made Louis special was that he owned the family business for three generations.

“Being with your family can be tough, but when my family or my brother’s family came and you saw them open a restaurant, it was always nice,” Hontalas said.

On Valentine’s Day, which would have been Louis’ 86th birthday in 2023, Hontalas texted his family to commemorate the restaurant’s history.

“I wrote to my siblings and they said, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe it took me so long to remember, it’s our anniversary!’ And I just thought, “Thanks Louie,” you’ve made a lot of people happy. ‘ Ontalas said.

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