After 77 years on the corner of Pico and Normandie and across from St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Los Angeles, a focal point of Greek American community life is about to close its doors.
The legendary Los Angeles Greek restaurant and market, Papa Cristo’s, is closing permanently, citing the high cost of rent in an evolving neighborhood that was once home to large numbers of Greek immigrants in the 1930s and 40s.
Papa Cristo’s is famous for their rack of lamb, kebabs and other classic Greek dishes served without fancy fanfare. On any given day ordinary neighborhood folk are in line with a celebrity, ordering a kebab sandwich or buying a pound of feta cheese from the market area.
Sam Chrys, current owner Chrys Chrys’s father, first opened C & K Importing Company in 1948 to import food and wine from Greece to serve the influx of immigrants that were arriving in the city and settling in the neighborhood.
In 1968, Chrys Chrys bought the business from his father with a dream of opening a restaurant. In the early 1990s, the restaurant arm of Papa Cristo’s was born.
The restaurant, as well as its charismatic, iconic owner has been featured in various commercials and skits, including a spot on Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2024 with NBA basketball player Isaiah Hartenstein.
Rapper Ja Rule was featured in an advertisement for Papa Cristo’s, in which the rapper tried to pronounce dishes from the restaurant’s menu over a green-screened photo of the food.
