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Santa Monica’s Neighborhood Diner Blue Plate Closed Without Notice on August 13

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Owner Jenny Rush is looking for a larger Santa Monica space

Blue Plate
Yelp
Mona Holmes is a reporter for Eater Los Angeles and a regular contributor to KCRW radio. She has covered restaurants, dining, and food culture since 2016. In 2022, the James Beard Foundation nominated her for a Jonathan Gold Local Voice Award.

Santa Monica neighborhood favorite Blue Plate served their last meal on August 13. The restaurant first opened in 1999, ending an 18 year run along Montana Avenue. There are a few reasons for Blue Plate’s closure. The Santa Monica diner’s lease was up, and owner Jenny Rush wanted to change things up.

Rush explains what led to the closure: “We’ve been open seven days a week, 365 days a year. It became an old car. We kept putting money into it, changing things, and renovating. But it’s time to move on and look for a new and slightly bigger space in Santa Monica.”

This busy stretch of Montana was an ideal location, but Rush cites that the interior posed some operational problems at just a thousand square feet. Blue Plate Taco, and the Blue Plate Oysterette will remain open, although Oysterette’s West Hollywood location closed in late 2016.

Rush feels the neighborhood love, with thousands of emails asking for Blue Plate recipes or details of the new location, which will definitely be a diner with takeout options. But all things at the right time. Rush believes, “Sometimes it’s better to go out on a high note.”

Blue Plate
1415 Montana Ave
Santa Monica, CA

Blue Plate Taco

1515 Ocean Avenue, , CA 90401 (310) 458-2985 Visit Website

Blue Plate Oysterette

8048 W 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90048 (323) 656-5474 Visit Website