The Derby, a more than 100 year-old steakhouse in Arcadia, is being torn down and transformed into a mixed-use apartment complex. Fret not, because The Derby will be reborn as one of the new development’s commercial tenants. During the construction process, which should take around one-and-a-half to two-years, it will operate out of a temporary space nearby.
“I originally started working at The Derby as a busboy and worked my way up to general manager. When the previous owners gave me the opportunity to purchase it in 2007, I jumped on it,” owner Dustin Nicolason told What Now Los Angeles. “Over the years, I’ve realized how special this place truly is, and it needs to be specially cared for in order to preserve its history.”
But with that history also came a very old building. Nicolarsen described the property’s structural issues and poor conditions, and how the building has evolved (or devolved?) over the years.
“It was never designed to be a huge restaurant. It was basically built in piecemeal. For example, we have a galley style kitchen with only enough room for one person to comfortably walk down. But that’s because when it opened in 1922, there used to be a chicken coop in the back and we were only open four hours a day.”
The new Derby will be two stories and will feature a 27-seat horseshoe shaped bar. Nicolarsen aims to preserve The Derby’s traditional steakhouse look with fireplaces, red leather boots, stained glass and wood accents. He also mentioned that the upstairs would be more modern, “like The Derby’s hip younger cousin.”
“People’s main concern during this process was if we’d preserve the history of the restaurant, which is incredibly important to us. One of the things I’m most excited about is that, instead of only displaying one-third of our collection like we do now, the new restaurant will house a mini museum in the waiting area that shows The Derby through the decades with 100% of our collection on display.”
The Derby isn’t all Nicoalrsen is cooking up. He is also working on two other restaurants coming to the new development. One is a 1500 square-foot cafe, which could potentially have an AI-powered component behind it. The other is a fine dining Mexican restaurant.
“The Mexican restaurant will use product from The Derby. We prepare all of our own meats, which means we have leftover trimmings of prime quality steak. Over the years, our chefs have been experimenting and preparing Mexican food with those trimmings, and the difference in quality is extreme,” Nicolarsen added.
Nicolarsen seems optimistic about the future and is excited for this next chapter. “I’m really lucky to have an amazing team that’s been here so long and cares so much.”
The new Derby is expected to be up and running by the end of 2025.
