Cole's buffet/bar in Downtown LA

We were invited to Cole's in downtown, LA by Mike at Franklin Avenue.

When we plugged "Cole's" into our car's navigation system, it came back with "P.E. Cole's Buffet." P.E. standing for Pacific Electric. The restaurant first opened in 1908. That's ancient by LA standards. Cole's claims to be the originator of the French Dip sandwich (although Philippe's also claims this title).The restaurant itself is below street level. You can see the buffet counter in this photo, through the front door. The rumor is that the restaurant is soon to go through a change of ownership and the restaurant and bar will be revamped.

It was nice to meet Mike, his wife Maria, and their toddler Evan in person. Formerly I only knew of them through the blog world, as I enjoy reading their blog about things going on in LA. Mike had also invited other LA bloggers, so when we got there, after Astrid's nap, we got to meet a few.

It's interesting how you can live and/or work in the same city and never run into people, or never get to know people around you. You have a great deal of anonymity, especially if you live in a big city. Yet in the blog world you can't help getting to know people and sharing in the lives of complete strangers. And on the rare occasion like this one, blog world meets real world. =)