Skip to main content

Update: TiGeorges Chicken Is Not Closing For Good Today

Support Provided By

My friend TiGeorges Laguerre has done it again.

Contrary to previous -- and accurate at the time -- reporting by others, Laguerre's TiGeorges' Chicken restaurant and de facto Haitian cultural center on Glendale Boulevard will *not* be closing at the end of January 2013.

Instead, Laguerre tells me -- and a government source confirms -- that he is actively working with L.A. City officials to keep from shutting down.

"The goal," Laguerre said during an email exchange, "is to relocate or upscale my present location."

Laguerre says that he has made a request for a beer and wine license. "I am going to wait and see which direction this will take me," he said. "I am now following the city's footsteps."

Given that Laguerre received last rites as a newborn, and given the various catastrophes to visit his business (a fire, for example) and the nation of his birth (a devastating earthquake, for example), it somehow isn't a great surprise to learn that Laguerre has managed to go all Tom Sawyer on the rest of us and be present for his much-loved restaurant's funeral.

Here, for instance, is the gorgeous eulogy written by LA Weekly's Amy Scattergood.

And here's the Downtown News' original, and perhaps high-impact, scoop.

That brief news item may turn out to be the restaurant's saving grace. Tamika Taylor from the Rapid Response Department of the City of Los Angeles was doing her daily due diligence when she came across a link to the Downtown News story on the website DailyJobCuts.com.

Taylor and a colleague then connected Laguerre with a colleague from BusinessSource, part of the Mayor's Office of Economic and Business Policy.

According totext on thisofficial website: "The Los Angeles BusinessSource Centers provide startup ventures and current small business owners various cost effective tools to make their business a success. Through these tools, small businesses can grow and remain competitive within the City of Los Angeles."

As for what happens next ... more details as they come.

Jeremy Rosenberg is the author of Arrival Stories and Laws That Shaped LA for KCET Departures, as well as the "as told to" co-author of Laguerre's unpublished memoir manuscript, "LET ME TELL YOU! From Haiti to Brooklyn to Echo Park: The Life & Times of TiGeorges Laguerre." Read TiGeorges Laguerre's Arrival Story.

Contact or follow Rosenberg on Twitter: @LosJeremy

Support Provided By
Read More
A black and white photo of an adult dressed as the easter bunny with a giant costumed head, holding a little girl on their left who gives it a kiss on the cheek and, with his right arm, holding a little boy who brings his hands to his eyes as though wiping away tears.

Behold the Bunnies and Bonnets of L.A.'s Past Easter Celebrations

The onset of the spring season heralds the arrival of fragrant flowers in bloom — and all the critters that enjoy them, including the Easter bunny and families who anticipate his arrival with egg hunts, parades and questionable fashion choices.
A black and white image of an elephant holding a broom with its trunk. A man is seen near the elephant, walking towards the animal.

Lions and Tigers and Cameras! How the Movies Gave Los Angeles a Zoo

The early days of the movies in Los Angeles inadvertently allowed visitors to experience the largest collection of animals in the western United States. When animals weren't appearing in a movie, they were rented out to other film companies, performed for studio visitors, or in the case of filmmaker William Selig's collection — an opportunity to create one of Los Angeles' first zoos.
A vertical, black and white portrait of a blonde woman wearing a sparkly four-leaf clover costume as she holds her arms out and extends a leg as though in a curtsy.

Irish for a Day: L.A.'s History of 'Going Green' on St. Patrick's Day

Whether it was a parade, dance, tea party, home celebration or just enjoying a good ol' wee dram of whisky, here's a photo essay of how Los Angeles donned its green apparel to celebrate St. Patrick's Day and embrace the luck o' the Irish over the years.