The last of the great patróns
E. Abbott Lawrence, the owner of Pancho’s restaurant in Manhattan Beach, on one of his many voyages. Photo courtesy Pancho’s The many lives of Pancho’s patriarch E. Abbott Lawrence E. Abbott Lawrence purchased Pancho’s restaurant on the corner of Highland and Rosecrans in North Manhattan Beach in 1975. The building had already endured a storied history. It was built in 1924 as a BBQ joint and fruit stand and survived through various iterations as a general store, ice cream parlor, gambling den, and finally a cafe and restaurant. Those many lives had left Pancho’s worse for the wear. Lawerence arrived in Manhattan Beach as somewhat of a mystery. He was tall, dark-haired, dashing and unusually well-spoken. Few knew where he’d come from. Over the next two years, he painstakingly oversaw every last detail of the transformation of Pancho’s. The hand-painted tiles had to be from Puebla de Zaragoza, Mexico. The stained-glass came from a specific East Coast antique dealer. Most importantly, when the overhaul neared completion and the restaurant prepared to reopen in 1977, he personally interviewed every employee. His vision for Pancho’s was that it would have the look and feel of a…
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