After closing in 2023, beloved brunch spot the Overland Cafe at 3601 Overland Avenue in Palms has sat empty—but a recent conversation with a realtor hints at a more robust future for the restaurant.
Although many Angelenos assumed the structure would be demolished and converted into condos, the word is that the owners of the adjacent luxury residential complex Arya have purchased the parcel and plan to keep it as a restaurant and retail space.
According to real estate agent Jaysen Chiaramonte, the current plan is to use a demising scheme to divide the space into three distinct entities; two will be leased to restaurant/food service operators, while the third, which will open out onto Charnock Avenue, will become a small retail space. Chiaramonte revealed that the corner restaurant space has just been leased out to an operator who will be creating “an all-day cafe, elevated-type-of-concept, morning through night, coffee-and-wine type situation.”
The other portion will be occupied by a local restaurant owner who will be relocating their current business to that space. The owners of Arya are invested in creating amenities for the neighborhood, which over the past several years has seen the addition of at least three new residential complexes.
Over the last few decades, Palms as a whole has struggled to sustain full-service restaurants, defined here as places with ample indoor seating and parking. Although the corner of National Boulevard and Motor Avenue is home to several thriving eateries including the Indonesian cuisine of Simpang Asia and the Oaxacan delights of Madre, the strip of Overland between Venice Boulevard and Palms Boulevard has few spaces for traditional dining.
Two of the recently built residential complexes, Ayra and Venue, currently have empty mixed-use retail space on their ground floors. Residents of the neighborhood seeking a sit-down dining experience must either trek at least a mile to Culver City to the south or the corner of National and Motor to the north.
The Overland Cafe, which opened in 1974 as a sandwich shop but gradually added brunch, lunch, and dinner items over the years, closed after the longtime owner, Mark Sands, passed away. During Sands’ tenure the space became something of a cultural beacon; in addition to serving bottomless mimosas and hearty portions for reasonable prices, the restaurant also hosted live jazz, making it a musical hotspot on the otherwise relatively sedate Westside. Currently, jazz buffs seeking a combination of delicious entrees and music on L.A.’s Westside often sate themselves at the Industry Cafe and Jazz in Culver City’s Arts District, which serves Ethiopian cuisine.
There’s no word on whether the new restaurants will host live music events—however, the rapidly increasing density of the area makes the region ideal for further development of cultural spaces.
