••• As is often the case, the new year has brought with it the closure of several businesses—such as Far West Guns (on State between Mission and Padre), as noticed by J. The website is still up, but Google lists the shop as permanently shuttered, and the phone number has been disconnected. There was still merchandise inside when I peeked inside last week.
••• The Whitney Chic Boutique at 36 W. Calle Laureles will be closing in the next few weeks. In the meantime, everything (excluding new arrivals) is 50%-75% off.
••• Caravan by KiKiSol is no longer at 631 State Street (Cota/Ortega).
••• A sign outside the Paradise Import teak furniture “store” on Garden Street in the Funk Zone says a moving sale is underway. It may or may not be new. That corner of Garden and Yanonali is set to be the site of the 250-room Garden Street Hotel.
••• I was sorry to see the “for lease” sign on the Open Air Bicycles shop at the corner of Carrillo Street and Santa Barbara Street. The shop is still open, but for how long is not clear.
••• It’s always heartening to learn of someone else willing to peek through windows to take photos—such as L., who got proof that Free People is indeed moving from State Street to 40 Los Patos Way. The mass-market brand is a departure for The Post.
••• I was driving south on the 101 during Saturday’s storm, and I was surprised how the new stretch in Carpinteria and Summerland doesn’t drain that well. Has anyone else had that experience? Also, the northbound middle lane near Milpas has been patched with a black substance that’s extremely slippery.
••• From S.: “I went for a low tide walk at Hope Ranch Beach and walked toward More Mesa. There are definitely parts of the hillside running along More Mesa that have fallen off into the ocean, my guess is because of all the rain. Not a lot of rubble, which was probably taken out by the king tides, but the hillside itself is bare, fresh falls, no vegetation. Not everywhere, but in some parts. And west of More Mesa, on Austin Road, there are two houses literally hanging off the side of the cliff from these falls.” The two houses are 5289 Austin Road and 5297 Austin Road. I went for a look yesterday; if you decide to follow in our footsteps, bear in mind that the trails in More Mesa are rather muddy—there was squelching—and you’d be wise to stay away from under the bluff. But the payoff, of course, is that the beach is a beaut, and as happens in this part of the world, lemons carried downstream after the rains pop up here and there. Anyway, the photos below show how the bluff under the west end of Austin Road looks freshly eroded. I have no idea how much of the damage at 5289 Austin is recent, but it doesn’t look good.
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SB Food Connection on Milpas has closed their doors
Also Anchor Rose is selling all furniture and equipment on Facebook marketplace
That grill has been hanging off the cliff like that for a few years. The homeowner refuses to do anything about it. But if you look at old listing photos, it’s clear that there has been a tremendous amount of erosion in the last 10-15 years.
5297 Austin recently sold at auction at a massive discount due to the geological concerns. There was a fair amount of disclosure about the issue in the listing, if you’re curious.