DINERS, FAMILY MOURN WOMAN.

Byline: Sonia Giordani / Daily News Staff Writer

A black bow hung on the door of Lupe's Mexican Restaurant in Thousand Oaks on Thursday as family and friends gathered to honor Martha Zuniga, founder of the 50-year-old landmark business and icon of the city's early years.

Martha Zuniga was buried Thursday at Santa Clarita Cemetery in Oxnard. She died Saturday at the age of 87.

When Zuniga founded the town's first Mexican restaurant in 1947, the business started out as a small green batten board building. It sat on the edge of the then two-lane Highway 101, separated from the passing cars only by a gully and a giant oak tree.

``She didn't name it after herself because she didn't think Martha sounded Latin enough,'' said Lupe Zuniga, Martha's third child and the restaurant's namesake.

Zuniga said her mother spent her days working in the restaurant until the day before she died.

``She started this restaurant as a hobby and it remained a hobby for her until she died,'' she said.

Phil Chase, a Thousand Oaks resident for more than 40 years who attended Thursday's service, said Lupe's Restaurant - and the woman behind it - are reminders of the city's small-town past.

``It's a place you celebrate family and birthdays and anniversaries. Even after Thousand Oaks matured, you still always came here to celebrate,'' he said. ``It's like coming back to something from a long time ago.''

Born March 27, 1910, in Gomez Palacio, Mexico, Martha Acosta Vargas came to the United States with her mother and sister while still an infant. They lived in Burbank until moving to Oxnard in the 1930s.

While a teen-ager, she took a job as a waitress and met her future husband Natividad Zuniga on duty one evening. They married in 1938.

Natividad Zuniga worked as a produce contractor in Oxnard, contracting with Ventura County farmers who produced agricultural goods throughout the war years.

The couple moved to Thousand Oaks in 1941 to raise their four daughters.

Natividad Zuniga died of cancer in 1969, leaving Martha to manage the restaurant on her own with the help of her daughters.

Barbara Craig has worked as a waitress at Lupe's Restaurant for more than 21 years.

``I stayed with Martha because she was the most loving and caring person I could have worked with,'' Craig said.

``She cared so much about the customers, she cared so much about children,'' she said, adding that her three children - now in their 20s and 30s - grew up in the restaurant.

Zuniga was honored for her dedication to her family and to her community at a memorial service at St. Paschal Baylon's Catholic Church in Thousand Oaks on Thursday morning.

``She liked to help people in the local community,'' said Paul Harold, Zuniga's accountant who eulogized her at the memorial service.

Harold said Zuniga made numerous charitable contributions, especially to St. Paschal's, which she helped to found.

Earlier this year, Zuniga was honored by the city of Thousand Oaks for having donated a plot of land known as ``Zuniga's Ridge'' that sits between her property and the Civic Center.

Zuniga is survived by her four daughters - Mary Shaw of Newbury Park, LaLa Cristerna of Camarillo, Lupe Zuniga of Studio City and Barbara Zuniga of Moraga; by her granddaughter Vicki Crisp; and by her great-grandchildren Anna Maria Crisp and Michael Crisp.

LaLa Cristerna, who helped her mother manage the business, said she and her sisters intend to keep their mother's legacy going.

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1--color) After Martha Zuniga's funeral, Lupe Zuniga - the eatery's namesake - looks at art of the original Lupe's restaurant.

(2--color) A picture of Martha Zuniga and a note advising customers of her death hangs on the eatery's door.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News