• DINING • The Luggage Room Pizzeria
Luggage Room Take Away 260 S. Raymond Avenue, Pasadena 626-356-4440, theluggageroom.com
Avocado Festival ($17) is made with hass avocado, house red sauce, tomato, basil and lemon zest.
Luggage Room takes Pasadena seriously Each of the restaurants in Lynn’s portfolio is original, distinct and tailored to the community and neighborhood of its location. “I’m not sure how much America really trusts chains these days,” Lynn said. “I think overall, what people are looking for — especially when you move out of the quick-service segment — is to feel the vibration of the operators. Not something as a business model that is getting rolled out in a ubiquitous way,” Lynn noted. “That’s why we’re doing it the hard way. That’s why we have all these different restaurant concepts. Because we really go into a community like Pasadena, and we’re all committed. We want to play right to that market and take it personally (and), we’re not looked at as an outsider.” Built in 1934, the historic location of La Grande Orange Café and the pizzeria in the former Santa Fe Railway passenger terminal also figures into Lynn’s model. “A number of our projects — the three biggest in Los Angeles — they are all in historic buildings,” he said, citing The Misfit’s location in a 1929 art deco clock tower and the recently acquired property, where Ingo’s operated, with a 1946 “steamline moderne” façade.
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Photos courtesy of The Luggage Room
a Grande Orange Café and its adjoining operations, The Luggage Room Pizzeria and Otis Bar, have long been reliable neighborhood fixtures. Located in the historic former train station and its erstwhile luggage room, the restaurants front the Del Mar Metro stop and face placid Central Park. La Grande Orange Café opened in 2008, followed by the pizzeria in 2010. Both venues exude an atmosphere of neighborhood familiarity earned over time, with consistently good food and service. Based in Arizona, La Grande Orange Café is owned and operated by a seasoned and canny restaurateur, Bob Lynn of LGO Hospitality. The Luggage Room Pizzeria recently opened Luggage Room Take Away. Lynn offered a window into his unusual business model, the latest industry innovations and his love of Pasadena. Lynn lives with his wife, noted visual artist Sara Abbott, in Santa Monica, where she maintains a productive and busy studio. LGO operates The Misfit there, as well as the temporarily shuttered Ingo’s Tasty Diner. That said, “Pasadena to us is like home. We’re there all the time,” Lynn said.
Photo courtesy of The Luggage Room
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By Frier McCollister Pasadena Weekly Contributing Writer
