Community Leaders Discuss Preventing Closure of Jägerhaus in Anaheim

Community members and patrons of Jägerhaus — a German restaurant and community mainstay in Anaheim — will meet today to try and find ways of saving the restaurant from shuttering.

Jägerhaus is host to a number of longtime patrons that notably include the Latino activist group Los Amigos de Orange County, a prominent venue for Latinos in the city and across the county seeking help and discussions about issues affecting the community. The group — founded in 1978 by the late activist Amin David in response to mounting frustration over police mistreatment — still holds their meetings there. The group’s president and current Anaheim City Councilman, Jose Moreno, was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

But the restaurant — as well as other local businesses around it — could close its doors for good, the owners say, after getting hold of a letter from a Los Angeles developer that allegedly wants to turn the property at the northwest corner of Ball Rd and Sunkist Ave into a carwash complex and gas station. The restaurant, located at 2525 E. Ball Rd, posted the letter to its Facebook page on Tuesday, Dec. 3. 

“Recently we’ve learned that there are plans from the Golcheh Group of Los Angeles to (A) demolish the existing site and build a carwash complex with a gas station and 7-Eleven on the land or (B) to squeeze in an additional structure in the area that is currently used for parking for the Jägerhaus Restaurant,” reads an online petition from the restaurant. 

Voice of OC reached out to the telephone number on the Golcheh Group’s letter for comment, but the person who answered the call declined to comment after the reporter identified himself.

Sandie Schwaiger, the restaurant’s second owner since it opened in 1979, said she didn’t find out about the developer’s plans until two weeks ago. 

“We’ve been here for 40 years. Everybody in the city has come. There are civic groups that have meetings here,” said Schwaiger, who added she’s “been so amazed at the groundswell of support, and the people going ‘oh my god, they can’t do this.’”

The meeting today is at 6 p.m. at the Sunkist Library.

Brandon Pho is a Voice of OC reporting fellow. Contact him at bpho@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @photherecord.

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