When the 555 East American Steakhouse opened, Long Beach was six weeks away from welcoming athletes to town for the last Olympics hosted in Southern California.
That summer featured President Ronald Reagan helping kick off the festivities, a jetpack arrival at the opening ceremony and athletes living together in an Olympic Village for the first time.
During the 1984 Games, Long Beach hosted four events and saw an influx of tourists.
“We chose a good time to open. It really primed the pump for us,” said Sam King, a Long Beach native and King’s Seafood Company co-founder and CEO.
In November, the Downtown Long Beach fine-dining staple near the corner of Linden Avenue and East Ocean Boulevard will celebrate 40 years in the business as it, once again, prepares for an influx of business ahead of the 2028 Games.
To mark the anniversary, the steakhouse will host a VIP event with nostalgic decor, commemorative gifts and celebratory prosecco toasts.
Outside of a brief name change to Domenic’s East Village in 1993, the restaurant has remained largely unchanged from its launch in June 1984.
The original bar still sits intact. It will undergo renovations next year, but its aesthetic will remain.
A parklet was added during the pandemic and remains there, offering outdoor seating with a view of the ocean down Linden Avenue.
Opening the steakhouse, which gets its name from its address: 555 E Ocean Boulevard, was a major leap of faith for King.
In 1982, his father and his uncle, Mickey and Lou, sold their six restaurants after nearly 40 years on their own. King stayed on with the company that purchased the restaurants.
“It’s at that time that a restaurant in Long Beach, The Carriage Club, hit the market and caught my eye,” King, a Millikan High School grad, said. “I saw the opportunity, trusted my instincts and took action. Just as my father did before me, my first call was to family and my cousin Jeff.”
The pair signed the lease the day before Thanksgiving in 1983.
Sam and Jeff learned the business working for their fathers and also from running a coffee shop in North Long Beach.
They co-founded King’s Seafood Company, which now operates six restaurants throughout Southern California.
The steakhouse in Downtown Long Beach remains the company’s flagship.
“We feature USDA Prime Steaks considered to be the ‘King’ of all beef,” the 555’s menu reads. “We dry age our own beef 30-90 days and we butcher it in-house daily.”
Menu items include jumbo lump crab cake, New Zealand King Salmon, linguine with manila clams and, of course, a wide selection of steak cuts.
Less than four years from now, the restaurant will welcome a second set of Southern California Olympians to town.
“It’s been an honor to serve Long Beach for the past 40 years,” King said. “It’s a commitment that we don’t take lightly — or for granted.”