The world is in mourning for recording artist, philanthropist, and icon Dolly Parton, who died on Wednesday, August 25, at 80 years old. Los Angeles also has an intimate restaurant connection with the Tennessee-born singer, who always made a stop at Silver
Lake’s El Chavo. Though the Mexican restaurant closed in 2015, Parton was a regular for many years; on each visit she would order the same dish — green corn tamales.
Justine Hernandez, owner of Frogtown’s Just What I Kneaded and Justine’s Wine Bar, worked as a bartender at El Chavo between 2010 and 2015. When she first started, management mentioned that Parton was a regular presence. “They told me, ‘Oh yeah, she comes here. Just wait. You’re going to see her.’ She used to come in and get the green corn tamales. She was obsessed with those. We would make a batch anytime she would perform in L.A.,” says Hernandez.
Hernandez says Parton was good friends with El Chavo’s original owner Ricardo De La Garza, who opened the restaurant in 1966. Over repeat visits, Parton arrived without an entourage wearing full glam makeup, high heels, and even higher hair. Parton came to know much of the longtime El Chavo staff and even remembered their names. Hernandez recalls, “When somebody asked to take a picture with her, she always said, ‘Of course, darlin’.”
El Chavo eventually became home to a shrine to Parton with a painting, photos, and memorabilia sourced by De La Garza that sat in the corner bar next to the neon-colored sombreros hanging from the ceiling. The restaurant even hosted a queer game night in Parton’s honor.
Parton had a decades-long relationship with California. She owned a property in Solvang from 2004 to 2014, complete with a wig room and a stained-glass window bearing her name and butterfly motif, reports the Desert Sun, along with a cabin in Idyllwild with a guitar-shaped toilet, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. SF Gate writes that Parton’s time in Los Angeles inspired her to open Dollywood, her Tennessee theme park. In the evening hours, the Santa Monica Pier was lit in Parton’s signature pink on the day of her death.
“Dolly was very sweet to everyone,” says Hernandez. “Certain people have a sparkle around them. She radiated energy you felt immediately: that she loved you even though she didn’t know you. The first time I saw her come in, everyone was whispering, ‘She’s here!’”
