eight-story mid-rise<\/a> with apartments and ground floor cafe and commercial space.<\/p>\nSanjabi decided a year ago that when that time came, the closing would also mark the end of the Green Onion that earned its place as one of the port town\u2019s most popular and long-standing restaurants.<\/p>\n
\u201cI must have made the people happy,\u201d Sanjabi said of the adoring crowd that gathered in the past week for the informal party. \u201cWe gave them good food, good prices, and friendship.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the restaurant had to raise prices recently, one regular said, it was by $1.<\/p>\n
Sanjabi was offered a restaurant spot by developers on the ground floor at the new mid-rise.<\/p>\n
But he declined.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s time for us to do this,\u201d he said of the closure. \u201cI\u2019ve worked (at the restaurant) for 43 years, day and night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before opening the Green Onion, Sanjabi got his start at what was the original Red Onion in Rolling Hills Estates, moving up eventually to become a co-owner.<\/p>\n
When he launched out on his own, he decided to name his new restaurant the \u201cGreen\u201d Onion. It opened in in 1983 at 17th and Gaffey streets in San Pedro \u2014 where Puesta Del Sol Mexican Bar and Grill is now at 1622 S. Gaffey St. \u2014 before moving to a newly vacated Trani\u2019s Majestic space on Sixth Street.<\/p>\n
It seemed almost too big, said Green Onion\u2019s longtime General Manager Eileen Boblak.<\/p>\n
How would they ever fill it up? What would they even do with what was a set-aside banquet room?<\/p>\n
Turns out it wouldn\u2019t be a problem.<\/p>\n
The Green Onion thrived. Its very walls up until the end, filled with photos of all its many patrons through the generations, testified to that.<\/p>\n
Over the years, Sanjabi took the photos and framed them \u2014 and then hung them on just about every available wall space throughout the restaurant.<\/p>\n
Now in its last days, many of those photos have been claimed and taken off the walls by the families and those in the photographs, with the owner\u2019s permission.<\/p>\n
Much of his success, Sanjabi said, was a natural connection with the cuisine: \u201cAmerican people love Mexican food.\u201d<\/p>\n
Along with the recent celebration held in the restaurant\u2019s banquet hall, \u201cgood-bye\u201d festivities included a mariachi band, a special City of Los Angeles proclamation presented to Sanjabi, and an impromptu crowd \u201cHip hip hooray!\u201d cheer for the owner.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t believe you\u2019re really leaving, we\u2019re so sad,\u201d longtime patron Rita Stavros of Rancho Palos Verdes told Sanjabi. She and her husband Mike have been frequent customers for many years.<\/p>\n
A photo of the family \u2014 with their then 3-year-old grandson who is now 20, he was \u201ca little tiny guy,\u201d she said \u2014 was among those that hung on the restaurant walls.<\/p>\n
They\u2019d ask their grandson, \u201cWhere do you want to go?\u201d when the family was heading out to eat. Rita Stavros said he\u2019d always reply: \u201cI want to go to the Green Onion!\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanjabi, she said, would often \u201ccome over to the table to say \u2018hello,\u2019 sometimes he\u2019d buy us a drink.\u201d<\/p>\n
While they had \u201cthe best salsa,\u201d Rita Stavros said, \u201cit was more than the food\u201d that drew so many loyal patrons to the Green Onion.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was almost like a family,\u201d said her friend Brenda Puleri of Torrance, who also was at the goodbye party with husband Gene. Both have been regulars at the Green Onion for years.<\/p>\n
John Bagakis, owner of one of San Pedro\u2019s popular pizza restaurant, Big Nick\u2019s, has some special history with the Green Onion. He carries a copy of a photo showing his dad, Nick, doing drywall work at the restaurant\u2019s building on Sixth Street, though he also worked on the restaurant\u2019s earlier location on Gaffey Street helping to quickly reopen it following a fire.<\/p>\n
Bagakis, who was born in 1982 around the time when the restaurant opened, said the Green Onion has been a central gathering spot, recalling how he watched the O.J. Simpson \u201cslow-speed\u201d chase in 1994 on the television there.<\/p>\n
\u201cLiterally almost every birthday dinner or special occasion growing up was in one of their dining rooms,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
For Chanthell Nelson, operations director at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro, the Green Onion became the Friday night go-to gathering spot after graduation from Mary Star of the Sea High School. Ever since, she said, birthdays, Valentine\u2019s Days and other special occasions have been celebrated at the restaurant.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the camaraderie,\u201d she said of the Green Onion\u2019s enduring appeal. \u201cSmiling faces, welcoming arms.\u201d<\/p>\n
So what now?<\/p>\n
While it may be a longshot, some of the restaurant\u2019s loyal, long-time employees are quietly scouting for a possible new location.<\/p>\n
General Manager Eileen Boblak confirmed in an email that the restaurant \u201cdid make the decision not to relocate, opening a restaurant in California is a huge undertaking, including with the bureaucracy and current business climate.\u201d<\/p>\n
But she added: \u00a0\u201cShould any of our key employees who have been with us for decades find a location and choose to carry on the Green Onion name and traditions we\u2019ve established, we are ready, willing and able to help them own a round 2 Green Onion.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Green Onion Mexican restaurant hosts a goodbye celebration in San Pedro on Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025. (Photo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[7,1335,3172,131,133,132,47,137,100,4065,29378,944,412,4066,1439],"class_list":{"0":"post-53565","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-development","10":"tag-harbor-area","11":"tag-long-beach","12":"tag-long-beach-headlines","13":"tag-long-beach-news","14":"tag-los-angeles","15":"tag-los-angeles-county","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-palos-verdes-peninsula","18":"tag-rancho-palos-verdes","19":"tag-restaurant-closures","20":"tag-restaurants","21":"tag-rolling-hills-estates","22":"tag-san-pedro"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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