“All Women Cooks” was the slogan of Thomas’ Restaurant, a 1940s era Los Angeles restaurant mini chain. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find much as far as history or memorabilia - no menus, photos, stories or ads - but what I was left with was pretty awesome and that was a magnificent deep blue matchbook featuring super simple, but super cool vintage comic book artwork. And, as a native Angeleno (westside), I was just so curious about what this small chain of four restaurants must have been like in 1940s L.A.
I was envisioning maybe something similar to the Original Pantry Café on Figueroa Street in downtown. This restaurant opened in 1924 and is still in business today (it’s owned by former L.A. Mayor, Richard Riordan).
And I’m just being honest here, this matchbook would have totally made me want to eat at Thomas’ Restaurant! The marketing would have for sure worked on me. So how could something so very good no longer exist?!
Starting out this investigation, I was already familiar with the streets of all four Thomas’ locations---Hill Street, Pico Boulevard, Broadway and Central Avenue. These are all major streets and if you’re living in L.A. long enough then you’re going to know them. Looking deeper, what really fascinated me is that all four Thomas’ locations were east of the 110 Harbor Freeway, and all located within the confines of downtown L.A.
351 South Hill Street: This Thomas’ location was right next to the Angels Flight funicular railway in the Bunker Hill district. The railway was built in 1901 and while it only goes about 300 feet, it’s otherwise a very steep incline, so, naturally, if you didn’t want to walk it then you’d take the rail car. At some point in the 1930s or 40s, Thomas’ emerged on Hill Street to take advantage of all of the foot traffic and activity around Angels Flight. This was a great location back then and now, 100+ years later, it would still be a great location! However, this location would be slightly different today as Angel's Flight was moved half a block south in 1960.
601-7 West Pico Boulevard: This location would have been adjacent to the 110 Harbor Freeway right by the Los Angeles Convention Center. I say “would have been” in the sense that Thomas’ actually preceded both of these structures! The Harbor Freeway was built in the 1950s and early 60s and the Convention Center was subsequently built in 1971. This address is the farthest away from the other three locations and the farthest south, so I’d imagine even in the 1930s and 40s there must have been a good amount of foot traffic around there to justify its existence. Today, this former Thomas' location is a parking lot.
668-74 S. Central Ave: This Thomas’ location was in the Skid Row area of downtown, which today contains one of the largest homeless populations in the entire country. Not much was different in the 1930s, it was basically the “skid row” of its own time. The origins of the area go back to the late 1800s when clusters of hotels were built to accommodate a transient community of mostly low skilled laborers. During the time that Thomas’ existed, Skid Row would have had a population that was constantly coming and going, which you’d think, in theory, should have been great for business. Today, this former restaurant location is an electronics store.
201-3 North Broadway: Without a doubt, this location had to be the crown jewel of the Thomas’ empire! It was literally across the street from the main front entrance of L.A.’s City Hall, which was built in 1928. Today, City Hall remains an iconic building and emblem of L.A. but back then it was that and so much more. For the Angelenos of the 1930s, this building was a marvelous feat of engineering and a symbol of the young city’s modernity and coming of age as a serious metropolis. And if you needed a quick bite in this city of the future (with paradise-like weather), then Thomas’ was right across the street from the seat of power! This place must have fed countless city employees, and, who knows, maybe even the mayor himself at some point! Today, this former Thomas' location is Grand Park Little Library & Grand Park Dog Park.
Given that these four Thomas’ locations were in areas featuring lots of activity and constant movement, I’d surmise that the chain most likely served quick, inexpensive meals. The transients in Skid Row couldn’t afford much and the workers of City Hall had to eat quickly and get back to work, so I’m thinking the menu probably featured items like sandwiches, hot dogs, pie, coffee, etc. Pretty straightforward faire.
So if you’re a run of the mill joint among other run of the mill joints, then how do you stand out?
Enter, R. Melvin Thomas, the proprietor and visionary of this upstart mini chain of restaurants. Unfortunately, I did not find anything about the man himself, but what Mr. Thomas did know was marketing! Had he just thrown his name on a matchbook next to an image of a piece of pie then I wouldn’t be writing this, and you wouldn’t be reading. So much would be different! But the “All Women Cooks” slogan and the doodle of the vivacious, long-lashed lassie makes this matchbook hard to forget. You’d think to yourself, “wow, I’m going to Thomas’ because beautiful women are going to flip my burger and wink at me!’ Sadly, Thomas’ must not have lived up to its marketing promise, otherwise it would still exist today along with thousands of locations from coast to coast.
Another angle is the thought that the “All Women Cooks” slogan was due to the realities of World War II. With the majority of young men serving overseas, naturally, capable women stepped up to fill the labor gap (see Rosie the Riveter). But to prove this thought as fact, we’d need to know in exactly which year the matchbook was printed and unless someone wants to set up a GoFundMe to send this matchbook to a lab for a full papyrus DNA exam, then we’re stuck.
You know, the answer could also be a combo of these two theories. Maybe WWII did result in an all or mostly female staff while concurrently Mr. Thomas wanted you to think that he employed nothing but cooks who looked like the illustrative love child of Betty Boop and a random Tex Avery hottie. Who knows? But for sure all of this marketing trickery would have totally worked on me. I know it’s bad to say these days but if a beautiful lady was making me French fries and then handed them over to another beautiful lady to serve to me then I would be pretty happy with that entire arrangement.
I certainly wish that I knew more about this place, if you happen to know anything else, then reach out on our social media.
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Thanks for reading! Till the next matchbook …
