LA’s Black-Owned Post & Beam In Baldwin Hills Will Close For Good

LA's longstanding Black-owned restaurant Post & Beam is closing for good after 13 years in business.

The Black-owned full-service restaurant Post & Beam in the Baldwin Hills community of Los Angeles, California, will close its doors for good later this month.

Post & Beam is closing down on February 27 to make way for new apartments, retail, restaurants, and a grocery store at the corner of Martin Luther King and Crenshaw Boulevards. The staple restaurant, which opened in 2012, will now operate on a limited schedule until its closure, offering dinner and weekend brunch and hosting community events like the Black Pot Supper Club, a ticketed buffet, social dating nights, and a special Valentine’s Day menu.

Though it’s a bittersweet moment to close the restaurant, the owners made it clear that the decision was mutual and they were not forced out.

“Post & Beam wasn’t put out of business,” Chef and co-owner John Cleveland told LA Eater. “The construction was long planned, and we were always kept in the loop. We’ll still have a presence in the neighborhood as it evolves.”

The community played a pivotal role in bringing Post & Beam to life. Cleveland and his wife Roni took over the restaurant after being mentored by the original owner, Brad Johnson, and chef Govind Armstrong,, who opened the full-service eatery in 2012. Situated in Baldwin Hills, a historically Black neighborhood, the Clevelands took over ownership in 2019 and created a diverse menu that included vegan crab cakes made from hearts of palm, wood-fired pizza, and roasted organic chicken. The side dishes paid homage to soul food classics, offering greens, black-eyed peas, macaroni and cheese, and some of the city’s finest brunch biscuits.

After Harridge Development Group purchased the property, the 2022 James Beard Awards semi-finalist for Outstanding Restaurant will shift to a catering and delivery-only model during construction. The Clevelands have plans to open a new venture in collaboration with Armstrong in the near future.

“Owning Post & Beam has been a dream come true for me,” Cleveland said. “I came specifically to work under Armstrong and Johnson. Roni is from here. I wanted this neighborhood to be the foundation of my customer base and root myself in Baldwin Hills, and we’re grateful for their support.”