Fatal Car Crash Leaves Overturned, Burning Vehicle Inside L&E Oyster Bar

A fatal car crash this morning ended with an overturned car sitting inside the front patio area of Silver Lake restaurant L&E Oyster Bar, which was not open at the time of the incident.

Co-owner Dustin Lancaster told Eater that a vehicle hit a motorcyclist (it was later confirmed to be a scooter) near the intersection of Silver Lake Boulevard and Effie Street, overturning the car and completely shearing the tree in front, killing one unidentified person and injuring several others. One L&E employee was upstairs during the crash, and called police while attempting to extinguish flames coming from the vehicle. Silver Lake Boulevard remains closed in both directions.

The terrible crash comes just weeks into the broader reopening of restaurant dining rooms, and on the heels of mayor Eric Garcetti’s new LA Alfresco initiative, which is meant as a quick, low-cost option for restaurants to expand their footprint onto public spaces like sidewalks and parking lots. L&E had greatly expanded its patio space to add multiple curbside tables along Silver Lake Boulevard. The patio was not in use at the time of the crash.

Car crashes, particularly onto patio spaces, are a terrible, if not uncommon, reality for some restaurants around Los Angeles. Over the years, restaurants from Koreatown to Melrose to Mid-City have been affected by crashes.

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