Por Katherine Hon<\/p>\n
Walking into the Red Fox Room Steakhouse and Piano Bar is like stepping back in time to the 1960s. You might expect to see Don Draper from the television show \u201cMad Men\u201d enjoying a two-martini lunch in a corner booth. Maroon leatherette banquet seats curve around the darkly paneled dining room. The piano in the bar waits silently for the evening entertainers.<\/p>\n
The Red Fox Room comes by its historical ambiance authentically \u2014 it opened on Oct. 18, 1959. This classic bar-restaurant at the corner of El Cajon Boulevard and Louisiana Street adjoins the historic Lafayette Hotel. Installation of a steakhouse dining room was part of a remodeling and renovation program for the hotel after it had been bought from founder Larry Imig by Conrad Hilton, president of the Hilton Hotel chain.<\/p>\n\n
The San Diego Union\u2019s Oct. 17, 1959 issue announced that the \u201cLafayette Hotel will complete a $500,000 remodeling-modernization program with the opening soon of a Red Fox room.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first step of the hotel renovation involved construction of 34 glass-walled lanai units in two stories around the hotel\u2019s large swimming pool. The second step was the steakhouse.<\/p>\n
The grand opening advertisement in the San Diego Union\u2019s Oct. 18, 1959 issue explained that \u201cThe Red Fox was an old inn in Surrey, England, and dates from about 1560. The three small original rooms have been combined to form a spacious \u2018tap room.\u2019 The bar, backbar, and the trim around the doors with the small carved figures all came from Charles of London and date 1560. The fireplace panel with finely carved overmantel, bears the date of 1642.\u201d<\/p>\n
Through the 1960s, Frank Rhoades periodically mentioned the Red Fox Room in his San Diego Union local news column. On May 31, 1960, Rhoades referred to \u201cDanny Beaudet\u2019s Red Fox Room in the Lafayette Hotel,\u201d and on Oct. 19, 1961, he described Beaudet as a \u201csinging restaurateur … who sings \u2018Star Spangled Banner\u2019 over the mike at Charger football games.\u201d<\/p>\n
Five years later, Rhoades commented in his Nov. 4, 1966 column: \u201cYou knew it all the time, of course, but I\u2019m just finding out … That the old Red Fox Room at the Lafayette Hotel, long a notorious loser, is buzzing with business again. Freddie Eyarkiou and John Demos have turned the trick, turning it into strictly a steak and lobster house. The uptrend has justified addition of another dining room.\u201d<\/p>\n
John Demos making the Red Fox Room a success when he took over in 1966 is no surprise \u2014 he already had a long history in the restaurant business. While still a teenager, he was listed in the 1947 City Directory as manager of the Steak House at 801 C St. In 1957, he was listed as the chef, and his brother Spiro was listed as the manager. The Steak House was owned by their father William, who came to the U.S. from Greece \u2014 where he also was a restauranteur \u2014 in 1920. The family moved from Chicago to San Diego in 1947 when John was 16 years old and Spiro was 17 years old.<\/p>\n
After more than five decades, the Red Fox Room is still run by the Demos family, with John\u2019s son Jim managing, Jim\u2019s wife Nancy keeping the books, and their teenage children busing tables during the holidays. John \u2014 now age 87 \u2014 still comes in many nights to make sure things are going smoothly.<\/p>\n
But change is in the air for the Red Fox Room. The Lafayette Hotel is reportedly declining to renew the restaurant\u2019s lease, which will end in March 2019. Undaunted, Jim Demos plans to take the family\u2019s operation to a new location nearby. He has every expectation that their cosmopolitan and loyal crowd will follow them.<\/p>\n