El Parador Restaurant, at 2744 E. Broadway Blvd., has announced that it is closing its doors.

From a press release:

We would like to thank the thousands of Tucsoans who placed their trust and faith in us hosting their wonderful family celebrations. Also, special thanks to the many business and professional groups that met weekly and monthly at El Parador. We have enjoyed serving you, our guests; in our beautiful Tropical Garden restaurant…It is a blessing to have been a part of your lives.

UPDATE: We spoke with Loretta Jacob Carlson, daughter of El Parador founder John Jacob and manager of El Parador, who said, simply, that its time for the business and the family to move on…but hinted that there’s something else on the horizon.

“It’s time and it’s a transition period for us. We’re transitioning out of a full-service business and we’re going to progress onto another facility … well, another point in life—another phase in life,” Carlson said. “It’s time to transition into another phase in life.”

“My dad’s been serving Mexican food in Tucson since 1946 at Club 21, so it is a sad thing and it is a deeply emotional thing,” Carlson continued. “Our family has been serving here at El Parador for 40 years. Our world and our culture has been transitioning out of a full-service and it’s time to go on. It’s sad to say goodbye, but we’re making way for that silver lining.”

When asked what her family’s next plans were, Carlson played things close to the vest, saying (emphasis ours): “We’re not sure we want to tell you what our next plan is for right now—we met with a gal, and she says we’re going to transition into a heart-healthy kinda world, and we’re going to tell you about that in a couple of weeks. We’re going to say our goodbyes, and thank Tucson, and thank our wonderful staff and all the people that supported us.”

We’ll see what’s next from El Parador—though, apparently, we’ve got a bit of a wait coming.

See the press release, in full, below the jump.

This article appears in Jul 11-17, 2013.

28 replies on “[Update] Tucson’s El Parador is Closing After 40 Years”

  1. Hmmmmmm? Didn’t THEY (and several others) also say they were closing down a couple years back? Kinda sounds like some of those stores that are always having a “Going out of business sale” yet they keep on going.

  3. Nowhere in this article does it mention why El Parador is closing. Is it the weak economy? Is someone retiring? Is the lease expiring on the property and the owner has decided to give them the boot? Without this information from El Parador’s press release and TW’s bare bones coverage of this event, this article feels very incomplete. Hopefully someone posts an update.

  4. My bet is that they are really NOT closing. This “press release” will drum up some frantic business to the restaurant which will enable them to remain open because of a new influx of cash. Then a few years from now (maybe less) the same “press release” will be re-issued.

    Rinse. Lather. Repeat.

  5. 3:04 PM Thursday July 11, 2013
    I just called them.
    Spoke to someone.
    They are ALREADY CLOSED !
    (cynics posting above)

  7. The building needs lots of work for one thing. It’s a sieve. And the food… not so good.

    Good luck to the family, though. Hope everyone is well and the staff now out of work lands on their feet.

  8. Many of the old businesses that we grew up with in Tucson have closed. For whatever the reason may be. It is hard to compete with the franchise plastic restaurants with million dollar ad budgets. Local food tends to be quirky and not the stuff of Chili’s or Macaroni or whatever place is pouring out “ethnic cuisine” at the moment. Their clientele also has aged and if their children don’t continue the tradition of supporting these local places they do not survive. Tucson is trying hard to keep a bit of its heart and soul intact. I hope it can manage through all the commercial haze created by outside businesses. Thanks to El Parador for having live flamenco and latin jazz over the years. Thanks for happy hours with great free eats and cold margaritas. You will be long remembered.

  9. I never really eat there, but this is sad news nonetheless.

  10. AZ/DC: As mentioned in the update above, they were fairly unclear regarding their reasoning — though my guess would be that it’s tied to the potentially forthcoming venture.

    Simply speculation though. The conversation I had with Loretta didn’t last long enough for any more than what was posted above.

  11. KOLD NEWS 13 just reported that the restaurant has not yet announced when they will actually be closing.

    My money says they will will NOT really close and all this free advertising will drum up more business for them…

  12. I worked there. In fact, my wife is mentioned in the article. The reason they closed is because they just never could bounced back from the bad economy. They (we) tried very hard to keep people coming in, but they weren’t. I watched their Saturday night business drop from 150-160 people down to 70-80. I will miss the place, and the people I worked with. But, as Loretta says, it’s time to move on.

  13. My husband and I ate at El Parador right after getting married downtown with close family and friends. That was 19 years ago July 1! A fond memory for always. It will be missed!

  14. It would be ideal that each of those employees have an opportunity to start up another similar local restaurant using what they had learned rather than have to go to work at some national fast food chain. I will miss El Parador’s food, service, and local flavor and I do hope a similar upstart or two might appear in my neighborhood.

  15. My wife and I met at El Parador in the mid 1980s during a Civitan Club meeting. A few months ago the two of us met a Palo Verde High School classmate (1964-64) of mine and his wife at El Parador for pre-basketball game drinks and snacks.

    While change is inevitable, I feel like I just learned that a family member died.

    Con lagrimas en mis ojos, buena suerte a la familia y a los empleados de El Parador.

  16. Another good reason to support the local originals which are still left, instead of the boring chain restaurants. Casa Molina on Speedway was one of my parents favorites whenever out of town guests visited, as long as the dirt road (Speedway) through the Pantano Wash was open. Ernie Molina ran the gas station next door.

  17. I remember going there with friends in the early 1970’s. It was always filled with fancy suits at lunch and cocktail hour. It was the Tucson place you were most likely to see the governor, and the lore at that time was that famous mobsters used to frequent it during their Arizona years.

    These days we go to restaurants that have better food, but I am sad that they are closing. Best of luck with their plans!

  18. it’s sad but I have to say the last time we were here the food was abysmal and expensive. I wish them well in their new endeavors. Change is good.

  20. I don’t understand why I would receive so many dislikes for a comment I posted before this article was updated. At the time it was nothing but the press release with no extra information and it felt incomplete. If people would take the time to examine all comments before they get happy with that unlike button they would (hopefully) realize these things.

  21. Someone mentioned about the original clientele aging, and if their kids don’t patronize those places, then they close.

    If Tucson were the kind of place that kept its younger generation once it grows up instead of losing them to greener pastures with better jobs and better pay, that would be more possible. The ones who stay are the ones who can’t afford to go out and eat at mildly expensive places with any regularity. Or the ones they go to are closer to where they live (i.e., not in midtown–look to the outskirts).

    I am very sad to see El Parador go. (And yes, it is already closed, for you doubters on here.) Many good memories there. Even so, it had been quite a while since I’d been there.

  22. Good riddance! The food was mediocre and NOT authentic Mexican cuisine. The audacity of them f
    charging a mandatory 18% gratuity on their barely palatable menu selections that were as originally Mexican as Taco Bell. The plants for lovely but for the prices they charged they should have at least provided their customers with a cutting in ita own pot on the way out of the restaurant.

  23. After the nasty meal experienced a weekend evening while the staff was focused on the conversion to a “night club”, I realized that “restaurant” was not their focus and I never returned.

  27. The owners wife probably passed away, I know her health was declining. Even their home is put up for sale.

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