Riviera Mexican Grill marks 30 years in Redondo Beach
by Garth Meyer It was a bankrupt restaurant in October 1995. It had been shut down by the health department but new owner Danny Williams, who bought it out of bankruptcy court, was unaware of that. In early 1996, he did a major remodeling, changing everything. He and wife M.L. hired restaurant consultants for the menu, and the place re-opened as Riviera Mexican Grill. “We did our work, we decided to make it a real surf hangout,” Danny said of the Redondo Beach spot. “Sales didn’t hit the roof or anything, it took awhile.” “That spring, summer, I duped my wife to come in and be hands-on.” Neither had ever worked in a restaurant before. The business’s 30th anniversary was Wednesday. After it opened, Danny Williams first went back to teaching “for about two months,” he said – 6th through 8th-grade in Palos Verdes. “Hey kids, hang on while I go make a couple of phone calls,” he described, for what he needed it to be like. The Williams’ daughters were in college, or almost, and their son in eighth grade. Danny had a real estate office, which he shared with M.L. for the restaurant, the building in the same parking lot. “(The restaurant) sponsored RUHS volleyball, P.V. volleyball…
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