Skip to Content
Tacos

El Taco on Firestone Shutters; Only Four Locations of Glen Bell’s Second Taco Chain Remain

[dropcap size=big]T[/dropcap]here are only four El Taco eateries left. The tiny restaurant chain, started by Taco Bell founder Glen Bell in 1956, shuttered one of its Downey locations over the weekend due to rising rents.

The popular pink adobe hut-like building on Firestone Boulevard sits on property that was sold in October 2016 for $1.127 million, according to public records. El Taco’s lease on the property ended this month. That’s when the property’s owner raised the rent, according to an El Taco employee.

An El Taco representative told the Downey Patriot that rent price tag skyrocketed to $11,000 a month in rent and $24,000 a year in property tax. “It’s crazy,” Alberto Vazquez told the Patriot, “You’d have to sell at least over $100,000 a month just to get even.”

Vazquez said the El Taco owners could not afford to pay.

Vazquez manages one of the four remaining locations. His restaurant in Downey on Florence Avenue is absorbing a lot of the business from the closure, he said. The other three El Tacos are in San Pedro, Orange and Anaheim.

According to the real estate agent handling the transition, El Taco had not paid rent in some time. Brad Freeman told L.A. Taco that the owners "simply defaulted on terms."

"After much attempt to reason with him, the matter was then handled in the court system," Freeman explained. "They also would not leave the space as they continued to use it without paying any rent.  To be clear none of the local employees knew El Taco Owner was not paying the rent.  Eventually there was a Sheriff lockout, because they did not perform under renegotiated terms as agreed to in court before a judge."

Freeman said that a "new brand" would be opening in the former El Taco soon and that they are trying to "salvage the jobs of those that worked at the location previously."

According to Freeman, there was no rent hike. The only increase was due real estate taxes caused by a reassessment of the property value. That resulted in an extra $1,150 a month, which El Taco refused to pay and then stopped paying rent completely, Freeman said.

" A revised agreement was negotiated in court, but El Taco did not perform on the revised agreement either," Freeman explained. "This El Taco owner ruined his own business on Firestone over $13,800 a year. That is the bottom line."

Glen Bell founded El Taco in Long Beach in 1956 after he sold his shares in Taco Tia, widely considered to be the first taco fast-food restaurant, when his partners refused to expand the San Bernardino eatery (one remains in Redlands). Bell was forced out of San Bernardino by the deal in a non-compete clause. So he settled on Long Beach.

Bell sold the El Taco chain in 1962 to open his first Taco Bell in Downey. The operation has been privately owned by the Downey-based El Taco California, Inc. for the past 60 years.

[UPDATED, Aug. 25]

RELATED: In Defense of the $5 Taco ~ It's Time to Embrace Our New Reality

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from L.A. TACO

Why Waving a Mexican Flag at a Protest in the U.S. Is a Form of Resistance

Raising Mexican flags is not an act of anti-Americanism. Quite the opposite—it is an expression of cultural pride, dignity, and resistance in the face of racism and intolerance. In the United States, waving the Mexican flag—or any national flag—can be an act of defiance against oppression, a declaration of one’s humanity and rights in response to relentless denigration by movements like MAGA that seek to marginalize entire communities. Even Trump would agree...

February 18, 2025

Tens of Thousands of Angelenos Flock to L.A.’s Flower District for a Valentine’s Day Flower Free-For-All

Tens of thousands made their way to the city's wholesale flower capital, jamming the streets and sidewalks with countless flowers and people. L.A. TACO'S contributing photographer Kemal Cilengir was there to capture it all, including street vendors getting fined and the dystopian-like flower free-for-all being had by lovestruck customers and hustling vendors eager to offload their prized plants.

February 14, 2025

This Weekend: A New Bar-Setting Indian Restaurant, Duck Laab Pizza, and a Filipino Breakfast Diner Pop-Up

Have a three-day weekend full of chai cheesecake, black garlic cocktails, egg pie, and famous flour tortillas.

February 14, 2025

Self-Defense Against ICE: Community Groups In L.A. Are Uniting to Protect Themselves

More than 50 organizations have joined the call to join this coalition, making it one of Southern California's largest immigrant rights coalitions. The group aims to extend from the San Fernando Valley to the U.S./Mexico border. The coalition is organizing training sessions to prepare its members for community tactics to defend their neighbors from ICE raids and deportations. Their first mass protest is taking place on Monday.

February 13, 2025

Tacos Before Vatos: 13 Tacos In L.A. That Will Make You Forget About Him

For L.A. TACO, love is always in the air, and it smells like charcoal burning on a sunny day under carne asada and tortillas hot off the comal, with vibrant salsas, caramelized onions, and thick guacamole. Forget him, and spend time with things that matter in life: tacos, forever. 

February 13, 2025
See all posts