SANTA MONICA—On May 31, the Santa Monica location of Sunnin Lebanese Cuisine Mediterranean Grill was looted and robbed. According to a report by the Los Angeles Times, the restaurant had their front windows smashed, as well as a laptop, four iPads, and two cash-filled registers stolen during the riots that transpired.
Sunnin is a family-owned Lebanese restaurant that has served the Los Angeles area for two decades, with two locations in Westwood and Santa Monica. They are both owned by Nicole Chammaa and her family. Chammaa, her parents, and her siblings immigrated to California from Lebanon after the Lebanese Civil War ended in 1990. In 1996, Chammaa’s mother, Fawzieh, opened the original Sunnin in Westwood, a neighborhood of Los Angeles. The Santa Monica Sunnin location was opened in January 2016.
The Santa Monica Sunnin location was closed after Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti issued the stay-at-home order on March 19, 2020. They recently reopened for take-out and delivery when the store was looted on May 31. Sunnin employees and community volunteers assisted in boarding up the restaurant’s windows and cleaning up the restaurant the following morning on Monday, June 1.
As of now, Sunnin’s Westwood location is open for take-out and delivery, which they announced on their Instagram account last week.
