Feast of Eden. (The Roving Eye).

CALL it history the hard way.

After two years of tumult, two Los Angeles restaurateurs have finally opened their new Silver Lake eatery--a 200-seat operation inside an historic fire station.

The Edendale Grill, owned by Patti Peck and Melanie Tusquellas, is housed in the first home of Los Angeles Fire Department Station 56, a one-story bungalow listed as historic landmark No. 337.

Opening the doors has not been easy.

Peck said the pair had wanted to open a year ago but had to battle neighborhood opposition, spurred by unfounded rumors that they were planning a nightclub instead of a restaurant. They also struggled with L.A.'s strict rules for restoring historic sites.

"All the hardware--from hinges to the doors themselves--anything that is original, if we don't use it we have to keep it. As if it's ever going to be a fire house again," Peck said.

As for major renovations, the pair took down just one wall and built a colonnade connecting the restaurant to what had been outdoor restrooms.

Edendale comes from the old name of the adjacent neighborhood, one-time home to the studios of Hollywood's Charlie Chaplin and D.W. Griffith. Around the corner from the Edendale Grill is the site of a Walt Disney studio where Mickey Mouse was created. The restaurant's adjoining bar, "Mixville," is named for Tom Mix's 1920s film lot that stood just blocks away.

Tusquellas is a fourth-generation Angeleno whose family owns Bob's Coffee & Donuts and Tusquellas Seafoods in the Farmer's Market.

Peck had owned Millie's Diner, the Silver Lake breakfast destination famous for sassy service and an early ban on cellular phones.