Gonzalo's Mexican Restaurant on Loop 281 in Longview will serve their final dish on Sept. 30.

Owner Gonzalo Hernandez posted the message on the restaurant's Facebook page about the closing.

Gonzalo has been caring for and serving up food at his restaurant for half of his life. He's beyond the age to retire with full Social Security benefits and told the Longview News Journal:

I don’t want to retire. When you can’t pay your bills, you can’t stay open.

Starting off in the restaurant business at the age of 14 in Austin, Gonzalo landed in Longview in 1980 and has been serving up family created recipes ever since. However, business has slowed, which he attributes to the influx of other chain restaurants in Longview, and said when he opened there were just a handful of Mexican restaurants in Longview.

Gonzalo told the Longview News Journal that after the restaurant closes, he plans to sell the building and is considering a request from loyal customers to produce a cookbook.

There's quite a history inside the Gonzalo Mexican Restaurant's building too! Pictures of some pretty famous people, some former Longview residents, cover the walls, mementos he will likely take with him after the doors close for the last time.

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