The 5 Spot on South First Street had its heyday when most cars came standard with fins, not iPod docks. The restaurant, built in 1931, may be the oldest drive-in restaurant in California.

San Jose gave the square brick building with its signature neon signs and red- and blue-painted aluminum carport landmark status in 2002.

"Kids. It was full of kids. It was hopping all the time," Barbara Wheeler told Mercury News reporter Rodney Foo when the 5 Spot was being considered for historic status. "If you were downtown, this was the place to go, and the food was good. Oh man, the guys with their cars! It was a nifty place."

But no institution can survive if it doesn't change with the times.

New owners David and Rosa Silva understand that. They kept the brick and the classic neon, but remodeled the inside with Saltillo tiled floors and yellow walls with bits of exposed brick. The 5 Spot is now the 5 Spot Chivas Grill in recognition of its Latino neighborhood.

The restaurant shows its loyalty to the Guadalajara Chivas soccer team with promotional posters; there is also a replica of the World Cup trophy. Two flat-screen TVs in the main dining area and the small bar cater to soccer fans.

And one thing hasn't changed - the food is good.

This is the kind of food I remembered sitting down to at my Grandma Hermila's table. Home-style Mexican cooking. Nothing fancy. The lunch plates start with sopa - on our visit, a toasted shell pasta in a thin, chicken-and tomato-flavored broth. My chicken flautas ($7.95) were crispy and the chicken moist. They came dressed with guacamole, sour cream and cheese.

The beans and rice were properly cooked. As my mom observes, if a restaurant does the rice right, you can pretty much bet the rest of the food is good. Soft-shell tacos - called taquitos here - are a deal at $1.50 apiece. The carnitas were some of the best I have tasted in a long while - tender, moist and deeply flavorful.

The 5 Spot was the spot in the 1950s, and it should be again.

Originally published online here: http://www.mercurynews.com/eyeheadlines/ci_6192473