After a nearly two-year wait, the San Gabriel Valley’s iconic landmark diner, Twohey’s, is about to open in South Pasadena.
After closing its Atlantic Avenue and Huntington Drive location in 2018 where it had served customers for 67 years, the popular eatery had planned to move to its current location as soon as possible.
Then the world got in the way. Now, six months into the pandemic, Twohey’s is ready to serve again. At a friends-and-family party Monday, owner Jimmy Christo confirmed the “tentative” Thursday opening date. But that’s the restaurant business.
We sampled some of their menu on Monday with a festive chicken salad, three perfectly done pork sliders, a traditional tuna melt with fresh fruit, and a mini-chocolate sundae—so far so pretty good.
We passed on the “Stinko’s,” which we’re sure you won’t. Legend holds that famous Little Stink-O, the clothes-pin on the nose- wearing, teary-eyed restaurant logo, was born when original owner Jack Twohey overheard a woman patron exclaim, “Oh, Stink-O!” when a nearby customer was served a hamburger generously garnished with onions and pickles. The current “Stinko” onion rings are still just as popular.
The newly remodeled restaurant, home to a former Italian restaurant and a Craft Hill eatery, has a full bar, two outdoor patios, and a private dining room, where it may be allowing some indoor dining, as they took our temperature as we entered the spacious interior to take photographs.
As Cristos said in an interview at the time of their closing, “We didn’t want to move like I said,it’s painful, but it’s a lot better to save the name, the brand, but more importantly also keep employed 65 employees and individuals and their families so it’s going to cost quite a bit, but once we’re there we do have a very nice long term lease that we’ve negotiated so we will be staying in that location hopefully for a long time.”
Twohey’s is at 424 Fair Oaks Avenue, South Pasadena, CA. (626) 284-7387.
