Pasadena’s Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles closed its doors on Sunday, thanking customers for 30 years of support, but there may still be a future for the city’s iconic soul food restaurant.
“We’re looking to upgrade our store in Pasadena. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram,” reads a sign on the building at 830 N. Lake Ave.
Roscoe’s website lists the Pasadena restaurant as permanently closed after 30 years in business, but offers no other hints about a possible relocation. Representatives for the restaurant did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the closure.
Long a Los Angeles soul food staple, Roscoe’s has six remaining locations in Southern California, including Hollywood, South Los Angeles, Long Beach, Inglewood, Anaheim and La Brea. Its location on Pico Boulevard in Mid-City is closing in early 2023.
Roscoe’s has been visited by many celebrities, including then-President Barack Obama, who dined at Pico in 2011 and the restaurant was renamed “Obama’s Special” in his honor. President Obama later said during an appearance on “The Tonight Show” that after dining at Roscoe’s, he quickly wiped the stain off his tie before heading to a fundraiser.
Online, fans of the soul food chain have been mourning its closure, reminiscing about three decades of good times and delicious food.
Some point out that there are four chicken restaurants within a five-minute walk of the closing Roscoe’s. One person calls the area Chicken Row, home to El Pollo Unico, KFC, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and, since last year, Chick-fil-A. Others, apparently less sentimental, say the prices of eating out have gone up and are no longer commensurate with the quality of the food.
The chicken chain has had a tough time in recent years: A gunman shot and killed rapper PnB Rock at a South Los Angeles location in September 2022. In 2021, an employee at a Pasadena location asked a man to wear a mask, leading to an argument that ended with the man pulling a handgun and stealing food from the kitchen.
In 2015, Roscoe’s parent company filed for bankruptcy after being ordered to pay $3.2 million in a wrongful termination and discrimination lawsuit.