Overview
- Employees said the Lafayette restaurant served its final customers on Tuesday, with SFGATE reporting an 8 p.m. close to nearly six decades of service.
- The location was one of the chain’s few remaining original Mission-style buildings, and the only other Bay Area site still operating in that design is in Benicia.
- Taco Bell corporate did not provide a reason for the closure or comment to reporters, though the company recently pledged to honor another original building in Santa Barbara.
- News of the shutdown spread across social media, drawing farewell visits from longtime patrons who stopped for photos and last orders.
- Local records place the site’s origins around 1968, and it features in a long-running community legend about the restaurant’s bell being stolen.