El Cholo restaurants mark 100th anniversary by selling naming rights to booths for charity

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The owners of Southern California's El Cholo restaurant chain are offering guests an opportunity to permanently put their names on 100 booths as part of an effort to raise $1 million for children's cancer research.

The Salisbury family is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its first restaurant, which Alejandro and Rosa Borquez opened in downtown Los Angeles in 1923.

Ron Salisbury, the grandson of Alejandro and Rosa, and the family now own six El Cholo locations in Southern California and are planning to open a seventh.

To mark the milestone, they are offering the public the chance to name a restaurant booth permanently for a charitable donation of $5,000. A plaque with the donor's name will be placed on the booth.

For $25,000 they can purchase exclusive naming rights to a dish to be served at all El Cholo locations.

The Salisbury family also owns Louie's By The Bay and The Cannery in Newport Beach. For $25,000 guests can name a cocktail or dish at those locations.

Donations of smaller amounts include the opportunity to win prizes such as a helicopter ride and boat cruise and a free dinner for eight at Louie's, as well as discounts off wine purchases and gift cards.

The donations will benefit children's cancer research at the Children's Hospitals in Los Angeles and Orange County.

"There's none among us whose hearts haven't been torn by seeing young children going through a critical and difficult time in their life," Ron Salisbury said.

"We wanted our 100th Anniversary to mean something special - to mean more than just about who we are and our history. By launching this million-dollar charitable campaign, we wanted to contribute to making the world a better place, and to give back to our community - a community that has been so wonderful to us for one hundred years."

The video in the player above is from a previous report.