Cole’s has been making hot sandwiches on crusty French rolls, dipping them in au jus and serving them up in downtown L.A. for more than a century.

As a headline once cleverly put it: “At Cole’s, restaurant business has been dipping since 1908.”

More recently, business actually has been dipping. So much so that on July 7, its owner announced that Cole’s would close for good Aug. 3, citing slow business.

It’s the second legacy restaurant to close downtown this year. In March, the 1924-established Original Pantry shuttered with only days’ notice. Time prevented my making one last visit to the Pantry. Cole’s was giving me lead time.

A friend from Chino Hills accompanied me on Sunday. Google said opening time was 3 p.m. We arrived at 3:15. That seemed plenty early for a joint that closes at midnight.

We found a line stretching down the block, all the way to the corner.

What was that about slow business…?

Suddenly, everyone wants to eat at Cole’s, either for the last time or the first. Good to see the excitement, although Cole’s must be wondering where everyone was the past few years.

Already hungry, we weren’t sure whether to tough it out, but we got in line while we decided. People were soon standing behind us, in a line that now rounded the corner.

You may have eaten at Cole’s at some point. Or you may never have heard of it. Cole’s has always been overshadowed by French dip favorite Philippe, in a different stretch of downtown.

Remarkably, both restaurants started the same year, 1908, and both claim to have invented the French dip.

The origin stories were never set down until decades later, with no evidence to support them. But versions at both places involve French rolls that were put in a pan of gravy to soften them.

Cole’s is said to have dipped its roll for a man with sore gums. Philippe, in one version, supposedly dunked a roll that a firefighter said was stale.

Whoever originated them, French dip sandwiches caught on. And Philippe, at 1001 N. Alameda St., not far from Dodger Stadium, is busy and beloved.

By contrast, Cole’s, at 118 E. Sixth St., is a saloon in a neglected part of downtown.

Were the two businesses ever rivals? Not really.

“Cole’s was in the business district surrounded by residency hotels, theaters and offices, and was always liquor focused. Philippe’s has always been very popular, and was more of a family friendly place,” Kim Cooper of Esotouric, which offers hidden L.A. history tours, told me Tuesday.

“So they weren’t really in competition,” Cooper continued, “except that it made a fun story hook, and Angelenos like picking their preference and arguing about it.”

Henry Cole launched Cole’s P.E. Buffet in the 1905 Pacific Electric Building, the terminal for the region’s Red Car trolleys.

According to a 1996 L.A. Times “Then and Now” piece by Cecilia Rasmussen: “Cole’s became a hangout for stockbrokers, cops, bankers, attorneys, ink-stained wretches, politicians and prizefighters.”

But the Red Line trolleys stopped running in 1961. The city’s business center shifted to Bunker Hill. Skid Row spilled over into the neighborhood. Cole’s suffered.

As a devotee of food, history and downtowns — one who would clip a 1996 article about Cole’s and still have it handy — I first ate there in the early 2000s.

With an entrance a couple of steps below sidewalk level, Cole’s was a classic tavern with Tiffany lamps — real ones, not reproductions — and dim lighting, bordello-red wallpaper and a long wooden bar. It felt more like Chicago than L.A.

My recollection is of lining up at a carving station that today wouldn’t pass muster with health inspectors for a lamb dip and a ladle of coleslaw.

Cole’s had obviously seen better days, and not any time recently. The sandwich was good enough, but like most people, I preferred Philippe.

In 2007, downtown bar owner Cedd Moses bought Cole’s and closed it for a makeover, ending the 99-year run that had made it L.A.’s oldest continuously operated restaurant. Cole’s returned in 2008 as a high-end cocktail bar with a chef’s take on French dips.

I had lunch early on with my friend Steve Harvey, the Times’ “Only in L.A.” columnist. The new sandwich was more refined than Philippe’s, and arguably better.

I went back two or three times, sometimes adding a slice of pie. Last summer, five years after my last visit, I got a hankering to return.

On a Tuesday evening in September, I rode Metrolink into Union Station and made my way to Cole’s.

Its block of Sixth near Main, in a slow part of downtown, barely had any businesses besides Cole’s and felt somewhat forlorn. It was early yet and only a couple of customers were inside.

Seated at the dark bar, I ordered a lamb dip with goat cheese and a pale ale and read part of a Travis McGee mystery.

It was a good sandwich and a pleasant experience, especially as an excursion on a work night. It scratched my itch for a Cole’s visit.

Back to Sunday. We waited for 45 minutes. The line moved about one-third of the block, partly from people peeling away.

“It can’t be that good, can it?” one departee joked.

I took a walk to survey the scene. A head count showed 100 people ahead of us. It was 4 p.m. My guess was that we wouldn’t be at the head of the line until 5:30.

I rejoined my friend.

“We could go to Philippe,” I remarked. “But that would be cruel.”

Giving up, we walked a few blocks to Sonoratown, the excellent modern Mexican counter operation at Main and Eighth. We ordered within minutes.

Sonoratown’s stretchy flour tortillas are a marvel. My friend mused: “These are the best tacos I’ve ever had.” My burrito was top-notch too. So that was the silver lining.

Might I try Cole’s again on a weeknight? Maybe. But the prospect of being elbow-to-elbow with excited first-timers wanting to post on Instagram isn’t appealing.

I prefer to remember Cole’s as it really was: half-empty. While hoping that someone comes along to rescue this 117-year-old classic again.

David Allen, who is half-full, writes Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Email dallen@scng.com, phone 909-483-9339, and follow davidallencolumnist on Facebook, @davidallen909 on X or @davidallen909.bsky.social on Bluesky.