Altadena’s Historic Little Red Hen Café Facing Landlord Woes Year After Devastating Fire

The future of the iconic restaurant remains uncertain as its owners struggle to secure the land where the restaurant once stood.

As Altadena, California, continues rebuilding a year after the devastating Eaton Fire, the owners of the town’s Little Red Hen Café are confronting uncertainty about the landmark restaurant’s future.

Barbara Shay and her daughter, Annisa Shay, the co-owners of The Little Red Hen, say efforts to reopen the restaurant have stalled. Despite donations from Paris Hilton, the 15 Percent Pledge, and a GoFundMe, Annisa tells BET that funding remains the biggest hurdle.

Rebuilding costs are estimated at $2 million because “everything costs more.”

“We have to rebuild. When you’re trying to buy a space and own the building, that’s how much it’s gonna take,” she explained. “Probably even more, but that’s the minimum.”

For more than 50 years, as Altadena emerged as a hub for first-time Black homeowners, The Little Red Hen on Fair Oaks Avenue became a beloved community-gathering spot known for its comfort food, lively atmosphere, and frequent celebrity visitors. That reputation ended when the historic restaurant was destroyed in the Eaton Fire.

A year later, the Shays are now working to secure ownership of the land where it once stood. In the days following the fire, they were offered the chance to buy the property from landowner Perry Bennett for a significant sum, but the offer was later withdrawn.

The Shays say Bennett initially quoted them $500,000 for the property and assured them the sale could move forward, but later reversed course, calling back to say, “We’re not selling the property. We’re just going to keep it.”

“She just hung up the phone because she was like, ‘You’re playing games. He wanted all the money up front,” Annisa recalled. “My mom was really pissed off because he knows the family and the situation.”

The Shays say the experience left them feeling manipulated during one of the restaurant’s most vulnerable moments, and they fear that even if they rebuild and lease the space, Bennett could later raise the rent significantly.

“He said one thing, then double-backed,” Annisa said. “So, why would we wait to rebuild when he’s probably going to charge us crazy [rent]?”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Little Red Hen Coffee Shop (@thelittleredhencoffeeshop)

The Shays are now searching for a temporary location and hope to open later this year while trying to return to their longtime home on Fair Oaks Avenue.

“I just feel like we need to be back where we were on Fair Oaks. So if we can buy that property, then that’s what we will do,” Annisa said.

Annisa is hopeful Altadena will preserve its historic character and avoid gentrification, noting that many longtime residents “aren’t leaving” and won’t “let anybody come in and infiltrate our stuff.”

She’s confident that The Little Red Hen will again stand as one of the community’s most cherished dining spots.

“We’re definitely gonna be back up and running somewhere,” she said. “The business will be popping. Everybody’s pulling up like usual. That’s what it’s gonna look like. We’ll be back in motion.”