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What would you do with $50,000, with no strings attached? That’s the task four Mexican restaurants are now undertaking thanks to the Backing Historic Small Restaurants grant program, a program of American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation that this year awarded a total of $2.5 million to help small, historical restaurants rejuvenate, innovate, and expand their businesses, ensuring their cherished legacies endure.
As information from the National Trust explains, “…this program demonstrates that preservation can invigorate local economies while serving the communities they anchor. The award honors restaurants for their impact on their communities.”
el Restaurante congratulates these historic establishments and looks forward to seeing the improvements the grant will allow them to make:
La Cita Restaurant, Tucumcari, New Mexico. Historic Route 66 is the perfect setting for a historic restaurant — and La Cita Restaurant, which opened along the iconic highway in 1940, fits the bill. The restaurant’s current location debuted in 1966 (still on Route 66), and introduced it’s can’t-miss 30-foot-tall, 15-foot-wide stucco sombrero-topped entrance. “The building and giant sombrero have been painted many colors throughout the years, including pink, yellow, and turquoise,” information from Route 66 Roadmap says. “Currently, it is painted in a fiery red, black, and yellow.”
La Paloma Mexican Restaurant, La Verne, California. Owners Joe and Hortensia Parker debuted La Paloma in San Bernardino, California in the 1950's before opening in La Verne in 1966. But the restaurant’s roots go back to Flagstaff, Arizona, where Hortensia’s mother, Maria, opened the very first La Paloma before moving to California and opening a small tortilleria that Joe and Hortensia bought when Maria retired. Many of La Paloma’s current recipes are those Hortensia’s mother made so many decades ago. “The legacy that was founded by two hard-working and dedicated owners has remained alive today six children and many grandchildren who have worked here throughout the years,” information from La Paloma explains.
Santa Fe, Tivoli, New York. Chef David Weiss launched this Dutchess Country favorite in the late 1980s in Tivoli, a quiet college town in the Hudson Valley. It’s now billed as “Hudson Valley’s Original Award-Winning Mexican Restaurant,” and has New York locations in Woodstock and Kingston, and a Burger Bar in Rosedale, too.
“This honor really belongs to our amazing crew and to the village of Tivoli. We had the good fortune to open in this beautiful village, and Tivoli has supported us from the beginning,” Weiss said in an Instagram post. “If we have had a positive impact on our community, it’s because our guests fell in love with Tivoli, just the way we did.”
The grant money will be used to pay to rebuild the original 110-year-old windows, and to repair cracked concrete sidewalks, and replace exterior lighting, he noted.
Cisco's Restaurant Bakery & Bar, Austin, Texas. Family owned and operated for 73-years, we are the oldest Tex-Mex restaurant in operation in Austin housed in a building that’s over 120 years old
“We are extremely honored to have been chosen by the National Trust for Historic Preservation for a grant focused on supporting historic small restaurants. It was very cool when we found out,” owner Matt Cisneros told local news outlet KUT. ““Cisco’s] is an encapsulation of time in a city that’s just ever-changing. It’s preserved to what it was always intended to be: a casual place of no judgment. A place where you can hang out with anyone and see anyone… Places like Cisco’s and other historic spots made the city cool.”
They will restore the exterior of the building and repaint graffitied murals and help with the overall cash flow to employees,” Cisneros said. “We're 74 years into this journey and we can't thank our customers and fans enough for keeping the history alive… Places like Cisco’s and other historic spots made the city cool.”
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