Gaffey Street Diner

****THIS RESTAURANT IS PERMANENTLY CLOSED****

San Pedro is best known as the location of the Port of Los Angeles. It’s also the location of a wide variety of dining experiences. The Gaffey Street Diner is a rarity in this area: an honest to goodness diner, open for breakfast and lunch only. And when it is open, it pumps out amazing food. Located just off the exit for the Terminal Island Bridge (one of the few “real” bridges in Southern California) and a stone’s throw from the Cruise Ship Terminal, it’s a great place to prepare for a long day of sailing or walking the Harbor and nearby Ports O’Call.

Hand battered chicken fried steak comes with homemade mashed potatoes, country gravy, veggies and biscuit for lunch. It’s also available with eggs for breakfast. A board lists daily specials such as menudo, corned beef hash and a “Mad Dog” tri-tip steak omelette. Bacon cheeseburgers come with puffy fries (more like the French pomme frites than a regular fry). Other sandwiches include a hot turkey sandwich, a chili size with a hamburger patty topped with cheese and homemade chili and a turkey, bacon and ortega melt. The apple pancakes, at two to an order for $3.95, covered an oval platter with two plate-size pancakes filled with sweet apple chunks. Portions are huge and the service is great.

By the second visit they had already made me feel like a regular, an amazing thing in Los Angeles. Judging from the others in there, a lot of people feel the same way.