OPEN: 1927–present
LOCATION: 1911 W. Sunset Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90026
ORIGINAL PHONE: MUtual 2574
CURRENT PHONE: (213) 484-1265
CUISINE: French Country
BUILDING STYLE: Provincial French
Taix on Sunset Boulevard.
WHEN THE TAIX (PRONOUNCED “TEX”) FAMILIES EMIGRATED FROM THE HAUTES-ALPES REGION OF FRANCE TO LOS ANGELES IN 1870, MARIUS TAIX SETTLED IN A PART OF DOWNTOWN L.A. CALLED THE FRENCH QUARTER, ABOUT THREE BLOCKS AWAY FROM CITY HALL. Marius opened the Champ d’Or Hotel at 319 E. Commercial Street in 1912 and debuted Taix French Restaurant inside the hotel with his sons, Marius Jr. and Louis Larquier, in 1927. They remained partners until 1964.
Taix was very successful in downtown, being located not too far from the government buildings and Bunker Hill mansions. Offering hearty French country fare for a fair price and serving their meals at long tables, family style, Taix became an institution. Lines down Commercial Street on weekends were not uncommon. French food was unique for the city, and Taix’s excellent cuisine, great service, and fair prices (they were famous for their fifty-cent chicken dinners) made it a destination for any special event or dinner.
In 1934, two years after the successful X Olympiad, many French cafés sprang up around downtown’s French Quarter, but Taix was the first of the lot and the most well-established. Its menu included such plates as pot-au-feu, Pigs Feet Paysanne, roasted leg of lamb, navy beans bretonne, and baba au rhum. In 1938, the restaurant began to offer lunch and dinner at different price points: lunch for forty cents and dinner for fifty cents, both served at long tables as communal meals. If you wanted a private booth, it cost fifty percent more. In 1940, Taix celebrated the Fourth of July with a fried chicken dinner for only sixty cents. The restaurant sold over 650 meals that day, from 2:00 PM to closing at 8:30 PM.
The Champ d’Or Hotel.
Louis and Marius Jr. opened Les Frères Taix on Sunset Boulevard in 1962. Two years later, after thirty-seven years of running the restaurants with his brother, Louis died in his office at the downtown location. Three months later, hard times fell on the family and their restaurants. Taix was going out of business, and the city was taking over the property to make room for a six-level parking structure for the new Federal Building. The family moved its operations to the Sunset Boulevard location and shortened the newer restaurant’s name to Taix.
The French Navy paying a visit to Taix, 1940s.
Marius Jr.’s sons, Raymond and Pierre, worked with two other relatives to manage the new Sunset location for a number of years before Raymond took over the entire operation. He built up the restaurant’s wine collection to hundreds of bottles. Marius Jr. had also been a pharmacist and, during Prohibition, had purchased wine for “medicinal purposes” that was served quietly to high-profile patrons at the restaurant. These rare wines became quite valuable later on. In 1980, when Raymond’s son, Michael, came on board to help manage Taix, he inventoried the collection, sold some of the prized vintages at auction, and used the cash to boost their collection for the restaurant. Today, the subterranean wine cellar (which is carefully kept at 58°F) houses one of the top collections of French and Californian wines in Los Angeles, with a whopping 700 different vintages.
In the 1970s, it was not uncommon for a restaurant to host cooking classes and shows in the Southern California Gas Company Kitchens. In 1971, Taix’s executive chef, Hurbert Balland, packed his knives and stills and set off to teach a series of classes sponsored by the Assistance League of San Pedro. He named the series “The Secrets of Gourmet Cooking.” Besides French dishes, Chef Balland taught special cooking techniques and the history of French countryside foods.
The dining room at Taix, 1960s.
In 2010, Raymond Taix passed away at age eighty-five. He continued to work at the restaurant until two weeks before his death. His son, Michael, is now in charge of operations—the fourth generation to run the famous French restaurant. 
Marius Taix (left) at the original Taix location, late 1930s.