[dropcap size=big]T[/dropcap]he portrait of Rogelio Fonseca painted by a longtime customer of La Abeja hangs high over a wall filled with the rest of the gifts collected over the years by his iconic restaurant’s loyal patrons. It’s mostly a mix of “Three Stooges”-inspired trinkets and Aztec art, all centered around a framed photo of Fonseca’s parents and original owners, Gloria and Jose. They came to Los Angeles from Mexico City in 1955 and opened the bakery-turned-restaurant on the corner of Figueroa Street and Pasadena Avenue in 1969.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment my entire life,” Rogelio tells me as he shares just a little bit of the sentimental value behind his favorite items on the wall. “I think it’s time for me to probably hang up the tennis shoes and you know, call it a wrap.” The moment that he is talking about is turning 65, the age he always told himself he was going to retire from working in his restaurant. He is 64 and his birthday is this month.
“If you let your body go too long, it becomes like running a car without oil. Yeah, it’ll keep going for a little bit—then pop! It’ll snap.”
Rogelio is sharing bits and pieces of hospitality wisdom with me that he’s collected over the years while he gets ready for the big morning where he won’t have to wake up at the crack of dawn to start simmering the chuck steak for his juicy beef machaca, or blanching the tomatoes for his salsa passed down from his mother in his famous huevos rancheros.