LOS ANGELES, Calif. - When Susan Feniger opened her first restaurant in the early '80s with longtime collaborator Mary Sue Milliken, the food scene in Los Angeles was very different than today.

“L.A. just did not have a great food reputation,” said Feniger at Border Grill in DTLA. “And what we've seen over the years is there so many amazing chefs here. So it's changed and I think the country has seen now L.A. as being a very sophisticated city for food.”

In addition to her many restaurant successes and shows on the Food Network, one of the things Feniger is most excited about now is the new Anita May Rosenstein campus of the Los Angeles LGBT Cenger that just opened in the heart of Hollywood. The new center includes senior and youth housing, social services, and will also feature a new culinary arts training program.

“We're putting in a culinary kitchen that is going to blow you away,” said Feniger. “It's going to take probably close to 100 students in the first year, and put them through a 12-week training program.”

For nearly 14 years, Feniger has been a board member of the Los Angeles LGBT Center which is celebrating its 50th year.

Gabriel Rondon has been working in food prep at Border Grill's kitchen since last July. He got the job through the LGBT Center’s internship program.

“It's hard to get into the kitchen when you don't have any experience at all,” said Rondon. “So with me starting the internship, I started off in prep and I work in the pantry now, so this is like a dream come true.”

Rondon serves as a Health Resources Youth Ambassador and Culinary Arts rep at the LGBT Center, and now he's about to be one in the first wave of students in the center's culinary arts program starting in May. Rondon went through some tough times of his own and like many over its 50-year history, he found help and community at the LGBT Center.

“It's not uncommon for people in my community to experience, I'm [going to] say 'houselessness' because 'home' is where your heart is,” said Rondon. “But there are resources out there. And if you can find them, completely take advantage of them because that's what they're there for.”

As a student in the new program, Rondon will get some new skills to carry him forward in the culinary world.

“It's a very social industry and I think it creates a support system where you create your own family,” said Feniger. "And many people in the LGBT community find that they need to create their own family.”

Perhaps most importantly, the Los Angeles LGBT Center has helped give Rondon hope for the future.

“I want to found my own nonprofit restaurant-style soup kitchen so that I can provide meals to anybody who needs them while offering them the luxury of being able to eat in a restaurant,” said Rondon. “We have to keep trying to thrive, especially as queer people, as trans people, as people of color.”

Join Susan Feniger at the Los Angeles LGBT Center's food and wine event 'Simply diVine' on Saturday, April 27. Proceeds benefit the Center's programs and services, including the culinary arts program.

For more info visit simplydivinela.org