Cashen, who pioneered the radar-evading design of the B-2 Stealth bomber, stopped to watch the plane — just a few hundred yards away — thunder past his table at the Proud Bird, the aerospace industry's favorite watering hole for more than a half-century.
"There's no place else like this in the world," said Cashen, 76, who retired from Northrop Grummanin 1993 but still consults for the firm.
The biggest names in aerospace have sat at the bar here to watch the planes land, people such as Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh and Neil Armstrong.
But the Proud Bird's days may be numbered.
John Tallichet, the current owner and son of the late founder, said it will close Nov. 21, after an unsuccessful two-year effort to negotiate a new lease from the property owners, Los Angeles World Airports.
The Los Angeles World Airports Commission says it can't help the historic gathering place, saying that federal law, which controls some aspects of airport operations, requires current market value for rents.
Although Boeing Co., Northrop Grumman Corp., the Aerospace Corp. and Raytheon Co. all have major facilities nearby, the industry is much smaller than in its heyday and less able to support the red-meat-and-fish dining room.
Nonetheless, supporters of the restaurant are outraged by the upcoming closure, saying that it would mean the loss of an important piece of Los Angeles' history.
Tallichet blames a tangle of federal and city laws that have raised his costs.
