Breakfast at Rancho Park is moving to the driving range. Next month the clubhouse at 10460 W. Pico Blvd. is scheduled to go into construction, and the city's plan sends food service outdoors while the work runs.
On September 17, 2026, the Los Angeles Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners approved $28 million to renovate the Rancho Park Golf Course clubhouse. Construction is scheduled to run from November 2026 to November 2027, and post-construction work continues through May 2028 (Board Report No. 26-216). At the same meeting, the board approved a separate agreement that moves food and drink outdoors to the range and the halfway house while the work is underway.
Read together, the two reports describe a building with a new purpose. A golf-course coffee shop is being remade as an all-day restaurant and bar with dinner service, a patio, and event space aimed at the neighborhood as well as golfers. The year at the driving range is the first look at how the new operator runs things.
The Building Getting the Work
The clubhouse is older than the course. It was finished in September 1948, before Rancho Park opened in 1949. George M. Lindsey designed it in a simplified Spanish Colonial Revival style, with reinforced-brick walls and a low-sloped, gabled clay-tile roof (Los Angeles City Planning historic context report). The city bought the land in 1945, after the private country club that operated there ran into tax trouble and the federal government took over the property. Golf-course architect William P. Bell laid out the 18 holes with William Johnson, who managed the city's municipal courses.
The course's history is the reason the building is handled carefully. The Genesis Invitational's history lists 17 Los Angeles Opens at Rancho, played from 1956 to 1967, from 1969 to 1972, and in 1983. The city's golf page puts the total at 18. A historic resource assessment commissioned by the city found the site eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, the California Register, and designation as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument. It also identified the clubhouse as one of the site's contributing historic elements.
That finding shapes the project. The board told staff to hire a qualified historic architect to oversee construction, so that any changes that could affect the building's significance follow the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for historic properties. The scope covers the clubhouse itself, exterior site work, and accessibility upgrades inside and out to meet ADA and code requirements. Five trees will come out: a Breede River yellowwood, a Japanese black pine, a Mexican fan palm, and two pygmy date palms. Ten will go in, including a western sycamore, a Mexican blue oak, an island oak, and an Oklahoma redbud.
The whole $28 million comes from golf funds, not the Recreation and Parks general fund.
Where Food and Drink Go Until Then
The food concession changed hands before the construction did. The city ended the previous operator's agreement on July 7, 2026. As of the September 17 report, the incoming operator was running vending machines under a temporary permit and getting the halfway house and the driving-range bar ready for interim service. The report says the clubhouse buildout is expected to take "one year or more" (Board Report No. 26-217).
| Interim agreement, approved September 2026 | Long-term proposal, still in negotiation | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Driving-range bar, halfway house, mobile carts and kiosks, temporary mobile kitchen | Café, main dining and event room, bar, patio, lounge and private dining rooms, plus the range bar and halfway hut |
| Food | Breakfast, lunch, weekend brunch, weekend BBQ | Year-round café plus an open-fire, Rancho-style steakhouse |
| Term | Up to three years, or until the 10-year deal is signed | Selected for 10 years, with one five-year renewal option |
| City's share of food sales | 2.5% | 5% offered |
| City's share of alcohol sales | 6% | 12% offered |
The interim menu in the September report lists California-inspired sandwiches, burgers, salads, and traditional Mexican dishes. Weekend barbecues are to feature tri-tip, smoked oysters, and a cast-iron grilled peach cobbler, along with craft beer, wine, and cocktails.
The revenue split in the table shows what the city is trying to do. The long-term percentages are the operator's January financial offer, and the 10-year agreement was still being negotiated as of September 17. Measured against that offer, the interim terms give the city half the share on food and on alcohol. That makes this year a bridge the city is subsidizing to keep service going while the main building is closed. The agreement also lets the operator put up to $500,000 of board-approved improvements into the halfway house, the driving-range restrooms, and the outdoor bar, and build a new patio next to them. That money can be credited against rent. The city covers water, electricity, and gas. Amplified sound, meaning house music or TV audio, requires the department's approval in advance.
Who's Behind the Bar
The new concessionaire is 10460 Rancho, LLC, doing business as The Rancho. Its proposal names Mark Chesler, Oscar Hermosillo, and Dan Spitz as its leaders. The proposal also says the group already runs the food and beverage concession at another city course, Penmar Golf Course on Rose Avenue in Venice, as The Penmar. It lists Hermosillo's other restaurant and bar ventures as Venice Beach Wines, Cerveteca, and Clutch Roadhouse.
That background matters for the interim year. The team selected on January 15, 2026, has already run food service at a municipal golf course, and the next twelve months put that experience on show from a bar next to the range.
What the Restored Clubhouse Is Meant to Be
The January proposal describes the finished building as a year-round café, an open-fire steakhouse, a sports-oriented bar, and a community venue, with live-fire cooking and a California mission-style look. That style fits Lindsey's 1948 building. The main bar, called The Taberna, is pitched as a gathering place for golfers and residents, with dinner service. The patio is planned for daytime lounging and outdoor dining in the evening. The café is planned to offer grab-and-go service and table service, plus patio seating.
The hours do the most to change who the building serves. The board report sets minimum hours starting 15 minutes before sunrise and running through sunset, with a hard close of 10:30 p.m. The proposal describes café service during golf hours and bar and dinner service later in the day. A dinner room that stays open after the last tee time is aimed at people who live within walking distance of Pico and Motor, not at golfers finishing a round.
The money follows the same plan. The proposal estimates $5.5 million to $7.2 million in improvements, including $4 million in city tenant-improvement funding. The city expects about $6.9 million in revenue over the 10-year term. Seating counts have not been set yet. The department has said capacity will be decided in final design. The city estimates the full restaurant will be built out and furnished in 2027 or 2028.
For a neighborhood like Cheviot Hills, where most of the housing is traditional and the commercial strips are small, an evening restaurant inside a restored 1948 civic building on the park would be a new kind of place to go.
What Still Needs an Answer
As of the September reports, the city had not published how several everyday pieces will work during construction:
- Where golfers check in, and where the pro shop operates while the clubhouse is closed
- Whether parking near the clubhouse is reduced, and for how long
- Posted hours for the driving-range bar and the halfway house. The interim agreement requires daily service whenever the golf facility is open, with hours set in coordination with the department's Golf Division
- Which historic architect will oversee the work. The board report requires one but does not name one
- When the 10-year concession agreement is signed. It was still being negotiated as of September 17
The city's golf construction updates page is where those answers should appear. Its most recent entry, from August, reads "Rancho Park Clubhouse construction updates coming soon!"
Just up Motor Avenue, the Cheviot Hills Recreation Center has open-play tennis courts that remain free on a first-come basis. Its pay courts went to $10 an hour on weekdays before 4 p.m. and $14 an hour after 4 p.m., on weekends, and on holidays, effective July 1, 2026 (City of Los Angeles Recreation and Parks).
How the Rancho Park restoration is carried out will affect the blocks around it. Seeing a clay-tile roof and brick walls brought back to standard is also good practice for judging the same details in a 1940s house. If you own near the park and want to know how changes like this affect what your home is worth, John Iglar can walk you through it with a free home valuation.
