ADIOS TO POR FAVOR IN LA MESA: MEXICAN EATERY SELLS TO OWNER OF FARMER’S TABLE

By Miriam Raftery

June 30, 2024 (La Mesa) – Today is the last day to savor margaritas and Mexican food at Por Favor in La Mesa, a favorite of village patrons for the past 50 years. The Marrujo family has sold its downtown La Mesa restaurant, but will continue to operate Por Favor in El Cajon.

The Alba Retaurant Group, established by Albert Morreales, has purchased the Por Favor site at 8302 La Mesa Blvd., according to SanDiegoVille.com.  The group owns several local restaurants including Farmer’s Table, Limoncello, and Smokey and the Brisket in La Mesa, as well as  Farmers Bottega in Mission Hills.

Alba reportedly plans to remodel the space for a new restaurant concept, though details have not been disclosed,NBC 7 reports.0

Will the new owners retain the Mediterranean Revival-style building’s historic features, such as its arched, stained-glass windows,interior balcony and  exterior concrete-and-stucco finish designed to resemble rusticated stone?

Built in 1927 to house the Bank of Southern California, the building is eligible for designation as a historic landmark and potentially, a Mills listing on the city’s historic register that would make the owner eligible for a property tax reduction—but only if the property owner chooses to apply, City Clerk Allyson Kinnard told ECM.

{Photo, right, courtesy of ECM news partner NBC 7)

Jim Newlund with the La Mesa Historical Society says the building has “long-standing relevance as a physical piece of La Mesa’s history.” The nearly century-old building was home to Bank of  Southern California and the office of developer Fred Hanson, whose office was in the area that later became a bar). After the bank merged with larger banks in the1930s, the bank moved into a larger bank building on Palm Avenue that burned down in the 2020 riot. 

The building stands on the lot of the city’s 1908 opera house, which was torn down to build the bank. Por Favor later acquired the site and opened its popular Mexican eatery in 1972.

Might a new owner someday seek to tear down  the building, one of La Mesa’s most recognizable and unique downtown structures?

That’s unlikely, suggests Newlund,  since a discretionary demolition permit would require historical and CEQA review, because the building is on the city’s inventory of potential historic sites. In addition, the Downtown Specific Plan has a two-story height limit, so a waiver would be required to build anything taller.