Walnut Grove Restaurant in SJ Capistrano is gone.

I just found out this week that the old Walnut Grove Restaurant, which has been around for 60+ years and which my family and I have been visiting for about 30 years, is completely gone, razed to the ground. That was a real blow to me, since it was a special restaurant to me with important memories, and one of the few surviving restaurants from the '60s (and earlier). It was a standard stopping place between San Diego and Disneyland for my family and many other families, just off the I-5 at the mission exit.

Anybody have any photos that they want to post or even sell me of this restaurant? I was planning on doing an extensive photo session there in case they went out of business but I no longer live in California and I couldn't make it out there in time. An online newspaper article said it went out of business in May 2005 since the owner couldn't find anybody willing to take over the difficult job of running the place. Anyway, I suppose it wasn't outstanding in terms of architecture or atmosphere, but it's one more beloved place I have to scratch off my list of old favorites. Not many more exist on that list. Griswold's Restaurant is also gone from all locations (Redlands, Claremont, La Habra), another place that had been around for decades since at least the '60s.

http://www.thecapistranodispatch.com/archives/Dispatch%205-12-05.pdf

[ Edited by: mbonga 2006-01-31 22:35 ]