The Mattas Built A Flourishing Business

Page 18 Sun Valley Spur Shopper May 7, 1970

The Mattas Built A Flourishing Business And Also Found Time For Their Community

BY WALTER ZIPF

 “They have class,” a man of the cloth remarked at a recent banquet here in lauding Manuel and Marylou Matta for their contributions to the business, civic and social life of the community.

The cleric was so right. The description fitted this charming couple as aptly 17 years ago, when they struggled to keep open the doors of their new, little restaurant on East Main in Mesa as it does today when they preside smoothly over an elegant dining room, just reopened after extensive remodeling and additions, across the street from their first venture.

• • •

The Matta success story is one of hard work by an unbeatable man-and-wife team, business knowhow and something rather intangible that shines through and is reflected in their attitude toward others.

From the very start, even in the days when this congenial, hustling pair performed most of the chores in their small restaurant, the Mattas have found time to do something for their adopted city and the people living in it — while also rearing a fair-sized family.

They needed to make money to survive but they also felt they needed to make friends and help make their town go. There is a fine understanding of human nature here, a fine empathy with human beings. They are solid citizens in the very finest sense, this couple, with a lot of appealing personal attributes.

A notable milestone was passed with the recent opening of the new Matta’s, with its luxurious dining room of comfortable booths and wrought-iron grillwork, and beautiful chandeliers overhead, and the adjoining attractive but smaller, closed patio with pots from Mexico and fountain in the center.

They opened their first restaurant in 1953 with $1,000 they had saved, plus what they could borrow for equipment and trusted to God and luck and their own energy and faith to pull them through. Sometimes they took in $25 a day, sometimes a lot less.

• • •

Manuel is so handsome and Marylou so beautiful I thought they might be descended from the Spanish Dons, so it was quite a jolt when I learned they’re Texans.

Both were born in Texas and grew up there, Manuel on a farm at Saragosa, Texas, July 7, 1918. When he was in his teens the depression still had a stranglehold on the country, and Manuel spent three years in the Civil Conservation Corp camps.

One of the unforgettable tasks he performed in those days was helping build the world’s largest outdoor swimming pool at Balmorhea, Texas,  which is fed by 76-degree water from springs. This pool is still in use and 26 million gallons of spring water runs through it daily.

While working at Balmorhea, Manuel met the comely Marylou Lerma, a native of Marfa, Texas. Her parents operated a restaurant there.

When the Lerma family moved to West Los Angeles, Calif., where Marylou attended high school, Manuel was dejected. He went through the motions of holding his job as a timekeeper for the Southern Pacific Railroad at Toyah, Reeves Co. Texas, after leaving the CCC, but his heart was not in his work – it was in West Los Angeles.

He endured the separation as long as he could, then caught the train for Los Angeles and married Marylou. It was just that quick and simple.

The young newlyweds returned to Texas and Manuel worked for another year for the railroad, until their first child, Gloria, was born, then they moved to California.

He was a welder in the shipyards at Mare Island until 1943, when he joined the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II. He served until 1946, spending much of his service stationed in the Hawaiian Islands after being a federal prison guard at San Pedro.

Marylou had moved to North Hollywood and with her two small children awaited the end of Manuel’s war service. After rejoining her, Manuel worked for Lockheed Aircraft until she developed a severe case of asthma and a warm, dry climate was recommended.

The couple and their children were on their way to Safford as a prospective home site when they stopped in Mesa and something about this community impressed them. They continued to Safford, spent a day looking around, and turned around and came back to Mesa. This has since been their home.

Relatives on both sides of the family had been restaurateurs and Manuel and Marylou decided to open a Mexican restaurant in Mesa. But first they went to Pecos, Texas, where his brother, Ben, operated a restaurant and he taught them everything he knew about the business.

* * *

Manuel worked for Builders Manufacturing Co. in Tempe before he and Marylou opened their first Mexican restaurant at 919 E. Main in 1953. He continued to work there, helping build metal door frames, part time, from 6:30 to 11 in the morning for six months after the restaurant opened.

By quitting at 11, Manuel had time to rush to Mesa for the opening of the restaurant at 11:30. Since he was chief cook and bottle washer, he didn’t dare miss.

The quarters of the Matta’s first business venture were small, just enough to hold six booths and four tables, and the kitchen.

Manuel cooked and washed dishes and so did Marylou. She also was the cashier and waited on tables. At the start, there was just the two of them.

* * *

Later, some high school girls were brought in to help part of the time. When the daily take rose from $25 to $60 to $100-a-day on busy weekends, the Mattas splurged and hired a part-time cook’s helper and a dishwasher.

The Matta’s restaurant grew slowly but steadily. After they had been in the small place four years, they saw the need for expansion so they bought a lot across the street and erected a modern restaurant in a 50- by 60- foot building. They specialized in Mexican food but also served steaks, salads and other American food.

This restaurant, too, grew and prospered and the Mattas again saw the need for expansion so last year they began the planning and building of their fine eating place of today, with its luxurious dining room which can accommodate 235 diners at one time.

They converted the old dining room into a banquet hall which can seat 150.

* * *

In carrying out the Mexican décor, the Mattas went to Mexico for their grill work, their booth dividers, hand-carved south of the border, and pots and tables in the patio to serve smaller groups. The chandeliers were especially made for the new restaurant.

Manuel and Marylou are not exactly taking it easy these days. They are still at the restaurant nearly every day but they have delegated some of the work.

They have installed their eldest son, David, who is now married and has three children, as manager and he soon will become a partner. David majored in business administration at Arizona State University.

The other Matta children are Mrs. Terry (Gloria) Tuchman of Costa Mesa, Calif., a former school teacher in the Valley; Robert, 14, who works part-time in the restaurant; Louis and Lisa, 11-year-old twins, and Allen, 9. The young lads are busboys at Matta’s.

* * *

“We haven’t done it all, by a long shot, in more recent years, we have had some wonderful people helping us,” Manuel remarked.

These “wonderful people” include Mrs. Stella Alcantar, the kitchen manager who has been with Matta’s 11 years; Mrs. Bella Maldonado with the kitchen staff eight years; and Mrs. Dora Lerma, Marylou’s sister-in-law, who has been with them 11 years. She is cashier and trains the waitresses. Some of the others on the staff have been with Matta’s five or six years.

* * *

The civic contributions of both Manuel and Marylou have been very large indeed and they have both received outstanding recognition for their work on behalf of others.

Gov. Jack Williams appointed Manuel to the Arizona Civil Rights Commission in 1968. On May 27, 1966, he received a personal letter from then Vice President Hubert Humphrey commending him for his support of the President’s Youth Opportunity Campaign. He has given much of his time to the March of Dimes.

In 1967, he was chairman of the 38th national convention of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), which was held in Phoenix in June of that year.

In 1966, the then Arizona Gov. Sam Goddard cited Manuel for “outstanding service in the interest of the aging” and he was appointed to the Southside Hospital Board in 1966 to succeed Pete Guerrero. He is now serving on the hospital’s advisory board.

He has received an appreciation Award from the Mesa Optimist Club, of which he is a life member, for his service as chairman of the Sunshine Acres benefit dinner.

He was grand knight of Mesa Council 3419 of the Knights of Columbus in 1968-69 and is a fourth-degree member of the lodge. He has been a member of the Mesa Elks Lodge for 14 years.

Manuel is a member of the finance committee of the church council of Christ the King.

* * *

LULAC is also close to the heart of Marylou Matta. She and Manuel had much to do with establishing the national organization in Arizona in the early 1950s. Marylou was regional governor of LULAC for Arizona in 1954 and launched the first council of the group in Mesa. She was elected national second vice president in 1955.

Mrs. Matta is a member of the Mesa Parks and Recreation Board and a director and a member of the budget committee of Mesa United Fund.

She is a charter member of the women’s auxiliary of Southside Hospital and was chairman of the auxiliary’s annual ball in 1969. She was a prefect of Christ the King Sodality in 1951-52.

Marylou is one of the few women elected a director of the Mesa Chamber of Commerce.

She is a member of the board of directors for Catholic Charities in Arizona and a few years ago was a member of the Citizens Advisory Council of Community Improvement in Mesa.

The Mattas have a nice attitude about the whole business of living and their role in life.

“There still is opportunity for everyone who is willing to work,” Manuel said.

“God was good to us, we have had our health and many wonderful things have come our way.”

Marylou said, “We have never been bored, not a moment, all the time we have been working and living in Mesa. We have enjoyed dealing with the public. There are so many fine people you meet in this business. We still enjoy it all so much we have no thought of retiring.

“Please say something fine about Mesa, a wonderful place in which to live and bring up children.

“We have had fun working for ourselves and for the community. What more could anyone ask?”

Life in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

On acceptance, enrollees were sent to “conditioning camps” at army posts for about two weeks, where they learned to function as a group and began intense physical exercise. From there they went to individual camps, which housed about 200 men each.

Two-thirds of CCC enrollees were 20 or younger. They had to be physically fit and come from families that were on relief and to whom they were willing to send most of their pay. Each man earned $30 per month, of which $25 went directly to his family (the average CCC enrollee came from a family of eight). The large public projects were mainly in rural areas so that the CCC’s low wages would not compete unfairly with private businesses. Learn more: Civilian Conservation Corps in Texas

The CCC for a lot of young men was their first job

“Enlisters would make $30 a month, $25 of which would be sent straight to their families, while the other five was for the worker to keep. Meals and lodging were provided in military camp fashion.

Education opportunities were an added bonus of joining the C’s. In fact, many completed their high school education while serving. Leadership advancement positions with an increase in pay were also offered to hard-workers.” source: Civilian Conservation Corps - National Park Service, article 

Learn more: History Channel Civilian Conservation Corps

Matta’s says adiós to downtown Mesa

David Woodfill Jan 16, 2008 Updated Oct 7, 2011

Matta’s Mexican Food, one of Mesa’s first Mexican restaurants and early community gathering spots, is closing its doors.

On Wednesday, Mary Lou Matta, who opened the original Matta’s with her husband, Manuel, across the street from its current location in 1953, said she’s ready to retire. Her son, David, 62, who began working in the restaurant washing dishes when he was 12, is also ready to retire, she said.

I’m 85 years old…and I’m tired, Mary Lou Matta said. I don’t want any more responsibility.

The restaurant, on Main Street between Mesa and Stapley drives, will close January 20. It leaves a long and storied past. Matta, a Texas native, said when she and her husband opened, the only other Mexican eatery in Mesa was El Charro on County Club Drive near downtown. eastvalleytribune.com/news