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El Coyote Cafe, Los Angeles, CA

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Availability:	Open to the Public
Filed Under:	Bars/Clubs/Restaurants Infamous Crimes > The Manson Family Infamous Crimes > Tours Personalities > Movies
Added By:	TheCabinet
Added On:	September 03, 2009 - 01:00 AM UTC
Last Modified:	September 06, 2009 - 07:13 PM UTC
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Address
7312 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036, USA (Los Angeles, California)

Information
El Coyote Cafe This Mexican restaurant has been a popular destination for Los Angeles residents since 1931, but it may be better known for its loose connection to the infamous Manson Family murders. El Coyote Cafe officially opened on March 5, 1931 in a small building located on First Street and La Brea, but moved to its current location on Beverly Boulevard in 1951 following complications over their lease. The business was started by Blanche and George March and has remained in the family ever since. Following Blanche's death, her brother James took over until his passing when the business went to his wife, Grace Salisbury, who continues to operate the facility to this day. For its first few decades, El Coyote Cafe struggled to survive but finally found its footing - no doubt aided by the early patronage of actor, John Wayne, followed by countless other celebrities. While the food is apparently met with mixed reviews, the mainstay item served at the Mexican restaurant is its signature, world-famous El Coyote House Margarita. It is that mainstay fixture that appears to be the largest beacon for thirsty lips, coupled with its friendly atmosphere for folks to mingle. Some have called the restaurant a microcosm of Los Angeles where celebrities and normal folks blend in. Over the years, the El Coyote restaurant has seen the likes of Loretta Young, Ricardo Montalban, Dorothy McGuire, Kevin Spacey, Kathy Bates, Drew Barrymore, Ed Norton, Dom Deluise, Tim Burton and many, many more. Of course, it is one particular group of known celebrities for which the El Coyote Cafe is best known. In 1969, actress Sharon Tate, famed hair stylist Jay Sebring, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, and writer Voytek Frykowski ate their last meals there. August 8, 1969 Little is known about the famed last dinner of the party of four. In the book, Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry, it notes that restaurant manager, John Del Gaudio, noticed Jay Sebring's name on the waiting list (for a party of four), but did not specifically notice the group. Similarly, waitress, Kathy Palmer, reportedly waited on the group and remembered them waiting at the bar for up to twenty minutes before a booth was ready, but could not identify them later by photographs. However, she was able to note that the party ate their dinner and departed the restaurant between 9:45 and 10:00 that evening. Although there are countless tales of people stating that they saw one or all of the group at other locations around the Los Angeles-area that night, it is believed that they returned to a house at 10050 Cielo Drive (see The Sharon Tate House), which was being rented by Tate and her husband, Roman Polanski (who was out of town). Their bodies, along with that of teenager Steven Parent, were discovered the next morning by the couple's housekeeper. The Aftermath Coupled with the brutal slaying of a husband and wife the following night, the so-called Tate/LaBianca murders ignited a firestorm of fear and paranoia throughout Hollywood and the Los Angeles-area. When the police arrested and tried the perpetrators, the story only got more bizarre. On December 2, 1969, the headline on the Los Angeles Times read, "Savage Mystic Cult Blamed for 5 Tate Murders, 6 Others," and described the assailants as "...an occult band of hippies, directed by a leader who calls himself 'Jesus.'" The world had been introduced to the infamous Manson Family and their leader, Charles Manson. Over one and a half years later, Charles "Tex" Watson, Susan "Sadie Mae Glutz" Atkins, Patricia "Katie" Krenwinkel, and Charles Manson were successfully prosecuted and sentenced to death for the gruesome murders of Tate and her friends. As details of the case (and the group's last night) was detailed, the El Coyote Cafe began to see an increase in traffic from those interested in the case. The tradition apparently continues to this day. Aside from common requests from guests to sit in the "Sharon Tate Booth" (where the four were said to have eaten their last meal), it has been reported that the establishment sees a dramatic up-tick in business during the evening hours of August 8th each year. It has supposedly become a tradition of sorts for the morbidly curious to retrace the Tate party's last steps on the anniversaries of that fateful evening by eating at the restaurant and following it up with a trip to the gates of the Cielo Drive residence where the murders occurred. For their own part, El Coyote Cafe does not appear to shy away from its notorious connection to the Manson killings. Aside from apparently granting the requests from patrons to sit in the same booth, the restaurant even included a mention of the famed dinner in a press release celebrating their 75th Anniversary in 2006. There is another gruesome connection between the restaurant and the case. The story (which may be more fiction than fact) goes that the autopsies of the four confirmed that they had eaten Mexican shortly before their deaths. According to this tale, Sharon Tate reportedly had the Chile Rellenos. California Proposition 8 In recent years, the El Coyote Cafe found itself embroiled in a controversy following the November 4, 2008 passage of California ballot Proposition 8. The proposition added a new section to the California Constitution that stated that only marriages between a man and a woman would be valid or recognized by the state, eliminating the right for same-sex couples to marry. The restaurant had long been considered a popular destination for the gay community, so when news surfaced that longtime El Coyote manager, Marjorie Christoffersen (daughter of owner Grace Salisbury), had donated one hundred dollars in support of passage of the bill, the patrons were shocked. The restaurant immediately became the target of protests and boycotts from within the community, forcing Christoffersen to hold a press conference and invite activists to a free brunch on November 12 to explain her actions. According to her statement, Christoffersen was a member of the Mormon Church and made the donation at their request and was "...sick at heart that I have offended anyone in the gay community." However, the press conference quickly fell apart when she refused to renounce her support of the bill due to her faith. Over the next several nights, street protests were held outside the facility and protesters waved signs (one reading, "Sharron [sic] Tate won't be the only one who's had their last meal at El Coyote") encouraging other patrons to boycott the facility. In December 2008, Frontiers magazine reported that Christoffersen had announced her resignation as manager and board member of El Coyote Cafe. However, the damage was done. An article filed by NPR on March 5, 2009, reported that the restaurant saw a thirty percent dip in business at the height of the protest and had yet to return to pre-protest levels. The Location Today The El Coyote Cafe continues to operate and serve patrons to this date. The restaurant is even a photo stop on the guided driving tour, The Helter Skelter Tour, by Dearly Departed Tours (see Related Sites below) which take guests to sites associated with the murders and the Manson Family. From reports, the anniversary dinners of those interested in the case continue each year and requests still come from patrons to sit in the infamous "Sharon Tate Booth."

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Related Sites
El Coyote Cafe The official Web site of the El Coyote Cafe restaurant in Los Angeles, California that is infamous for being the last place that Sharon Tate and her friends ate before being murdered by the Manson Family.
Dearly Departed Tours The official Web site for the tour company, Dearly Departed Tours, that operates in Los Angeles, California. In addition to movie tours, the group offers The Hollywood Tragical History Tour and The Helter Skelter Tour for Manson Family locations.

Similar Destinations
The Viper Room
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See Also on TheCabinet.com
There are no other pages on this site associated with this location.

Available from Amazon.com
Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders
Helter Skelter
Helter Skelter (Director's Cut)
The Six Degrees of Helter Skelter
True Crime Authors: Helter Skelter With Vincent Bugliosi
The Helter-Skelter Murders
The Manson Family (Unrated 2-Disc Special Edition)
What Happened After? Manson Murders
Manson Family Movies
The Family
Manson in His Own Words
The Downward Spiral

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The above content is for informational purposes only. Before making any travel arrangements, it is highly recommended that you contact those in charge of the property to check for updated availability and hours of operation. While we do our best to keep this information updated, we cannot guarantee that it is completely valid and up to date. Any destination marked "Closed to the Public" is marked that for a reason and we discourage any visits or attempts to gain access to that facility. Similarly, take note of any "Travel Advisory" that may be associated with a destination. Finally, treat any location and its local residents with respect. Any vandalism and/or unruly behavior is completely despicable and only ruins the experience for future visitors.

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