Edward L. Rausch, Owner of Edward's Steak House (LA)
Hyfler/Rosner
Service
LA Times
Edward L. Rausch, whose Edward's Steak House near MacArthur
Park was a Los Angeles landmark for more than three decades
before he reluctantly closed it in 1990 amid the
neighborhood's rising crime rate and deteriorating
conditions, has died. He was 87.
Rausch died April 24 of respiratory failure at St. Mary
Medical Center in Long Beach.
Born in Conejos, Colo., in 1916, Rausch moved to Los Angeles
in 1938 and worked as a butcher before operating Edward's
Coffee Shop on Grand Avenue downtown from 1943 to 1945.
He then became a real estate broker but returned to the
restaurant business in 1946 after purchasing one of his own
listings: a coffee shop on South Alvarado Street, a block
south of MacArthur Park in the then-fashionable Westlake
district.
Rausch grandly renamed the coffee shop, which boasted three
tables and a counter, the House of Edwards. He was the cook
and his young bride, Lynette, was the waitress.
Seven years later, Rausch razed the coffee shop and the
house behind it and opened a larger restaurant, which
retained the name the House of Edwards. But in 1959, after
adding a bar and giving the restaurant a Victorian decor,
Rausch gave it a new name.
Edward's Steak House was the kind of place that had sawdust
on the floor, turn-of-the-century brocade-embossed
wallpaper, dark-paneled booths and glowing Tiffany lamps,
with portraits of everyone from Teddy Roosevelt to Lillian
Russell on the walls. A wooden Indian stood sentry near the
door.
From 1959 on, Rausch served as host, escorting customers to
their tables but also helping bus tables, cook, cut meat and
even wash dishes.
"He was your classic old-school restaurant guy. He did
everything," said Rausch's son, Ken, who grew up in the
family home three blocks from the restaurant and began
working with his father as a teenager, washing dishes and
doing prep work in the kitchen.
Specializing in reasonably priced steaks and ground beef,
Edward's Steak House typically had lines out the door for
lunch and dinner, its success reflecting the unprecedented
economic growth of Los Angeles after World War II.
Over the years, the restaurant received numerous awards,
including those from the California Restaurant Writers Assn.
and the city of Los Angeles. Restaurant critics praised its
old-fashioned American comfort food and colorful ambience.
Ken Rausch, who is now president of Edward's Food Service,
parent company of Edward's Steak House in El Monte, as well
as chairman of the board of directors of the California
Restaurant Assn., described his father as "very outspoken
and right between the eyes: You always knew what he
thought."
That was never more evident than in 1990 after the area
around MacArthur Park had become crime-ridden.
"I can remember when you could take your kid boat riding in
MacArthur Park," Ken Rausch lamented to The Times. "In those
days, a lot of the old houses around here were rooming
houses. Pensioners lived there. They played checkers in the
park. The grass was green, the flowers were planted -- it
was beautiful.
"Now, it's a human toilet."
In May 1990, Ed Rausch stood at the entrance of his
restaurant and, flanked by City Councilwoman Gloria Molina
and other officials, announced in a voice breaking with
emotion that Edward's Steak House would be sold "because our
most dreadful nightmares have come true."
By then, business at his restaurant had fallen off by 40% in
the previous five years.
Three months later, after 44 years in the same location, Ed
Rausch donned a starched white shirt and tie and warmly
greeted each customer with a handshake and what a Times
reporter described as "a sad smile" as his landmark eatery
served its last meals.
The Rausches sold their restaurant and adjoining parking
lots for about $2 million to a developer who converted the
7,500-square-foot property into a swap-meet arcade with a
Korean restaurant in the rear.
After the restaurant closed, Ed Rausch began working full
time at the Edward's Steak House in suburban El Monte, which
the family had opened in 1973.
He quit working about 10 years ago, his son said, "but he
was always there for me."
In addition to his son, Rausch is survived by Lynette, his
wife of 57 years; daughters Denise Scandura and Linda
Delaive; and four grandchildren.
Contributions may be made in Rausch's memory to the Robert
Lugliani Fund at the St. Mary Medical Center Foundation.
GRAPHIC: PHOTO: E.L. RAUSCH: In 1990, he unhappily closed
his original Edward's Steak House near MacArthur Park.
Mack Twamley
"Hyfler/Rosner" <rel...@rcn.com> wrote in message
news:40963870$0$3009$61fe...@news.rcn.com...
> Edward L. Rausch, 87; Restaurateur Believed in Old-School
> Service
>
>
> LA Times
>
>
> Edward L. Rausch, whose Edward's Steak House near MacArthur
> Park was a Los Angeles landmark for more than three decades
> before he reluctantly closed it in 1990 amid the
> neighborhood's rising crime rate and deteriorating
> conditions, has died. He was 87.
His steak house on S. Alvarado was a treat, and many customers were saddened
at its demise in 1990, myself included.
RIP, Edward.