••• Have you noticed how good the revamp of 812 Garden Street (at De La Guerra) came out? (A before photo is below.) It’s being converted into a 30-room hotel called Casa Riviera, I’d love to see mosaics, ironwork, or something along those lines in the tower insets.
••• The Linden Square complex in Carpinteria opens to the public at 11 a.m. on Thursday, May 22. We already knew that Tina’s Pizza, from Bettina, will be open then; Corazón Cocina Sur, Channel Island Surfboards, and Third Window Brewing Co. say they’ll be ready, too. (“The front-of-house/beer team should be ready to operate seven days per week fairly quickly,” says Third Window. “We have a draft ‘opening menu’ and are working on developing our kitchen teams and maintaining our focus on how best to use ingredients from the ranch/farm.”) Mācher is just be doing a pop-up that day, with a real opening to come in July. And Dart Coffee Co. will debut in June. No word yet from The Shopkeepers and Olada Yoga & Pilates. UPDATE: Olada will be there on May 22, but the opening will come later.
••• In other Mācher news, its Santa Ynez shop (1090 Edison Street) opens May 15: “It’s a similar concept to the Goleta location, but with more pantry items for the winery crowd to buy grab and go snacks, and quite a few new brands being showcased,” says founder Lex Gruetzmacher.
••• I heard back from the city staffers working on the De La Vina bridge replacement, and indeed, for the duration of the project, De La Vina Street will be closed to northbound traffic, probably between Alamar Avenue and State Street. Traffic will be shifted from one side of the street to the other as work progresses.
••• The block of Anacapa Street between Gutierrez and Haley is now two-way. The second photo below is what you see as you approach Haley from the south, and crossing Haley by foot at the eastern side of Anacapa is no longer permitted “for safety reasons” (but I’d probably do it anyway because these things drive me crazy). Also, there’s a new stop sign on Gutierrez at Anacapa.
••• The Mad Dogs & Englishmen bike shop will open at The Post next month, and its former space on Coast Village Road is becoming yet another outpost of The Well. Speaking of The Post, I was surprised to see that a big chunk of the complex’s parking lot is reserved for valet parking, which costs $15 at any time of day (to drive the car a few yards) and none of the businesses are validating. That development is isolated, so it’s not as if you can easily walk from elsewhere, besides the small bird refuge lot and the street.
••• Next door, meanwhile, Magic Castle Cabaret owner Arlene Larsen says there’s no construction happening on her property (as had appeared), and she’s “very close to opening the Magic Castle Cabaret for my special parties.”
••• The Hilton Santa Barbara‘s proposed expansion, which has been in the works for a while, goes before the Planning Commission on May 15. “The total number of guest rooms would increase from 360 to 433 guest rooms (a net increase of 73 guest rooms). The total square footage of the hotel would increase from 329,780 square feet to 375,708 square feet (a net increase of 45,928 square feet).” The submitted materials include a rendering that shows how the new building will impact the corner of Cabrillo Boulevard and Calle Cesar Chavez. Below: Google Maps vs. the rendering.
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I get why some places have valet parking, but not small shopping areas (like the Post) where valet parking does not really shorten the walk and actually wastes time. It’s just a blatant money grab from the landlord, and I would expect the owners of the many businesses there that want people to walk in and browse are not going to be happy. I recently ordered takeout from Ospi and had to grab the last space in the bird refuge lot (the street parking was full). Doubtful I will do that again.
Ospi’s website notes a potential workaround in their “parking” section. If I’m understanding correctly, it looks like guests can opt to use the valet section of the parking lot as additional free parking if they note that they want to self park when pulling up to the valet stand. https://www.ospi.com/montecito
No one in SB is going to pay $15 for valet parking. Agree with other comment; money grab from out of touch LA based owner/operator and bad 1st impression.
They do this at the Harbor restaurant for Sunday brunch. Takes up 1/2 the parking on the harbor for like 3 cars. I won’t eat there until they share the lot.
Valet is gone from the wharf
I hope so…went there for a birthday celebration in October and had to pay for the valet before even going in for the expensive food. There were only a few cars parked there on this week night, then had to pay for parking as I left the wharf. Have not returned.
I visited the harbor restaurant over mothers day weekend. What a joke! who are the new owners of this place $435.00 for 4 people will never go back. Terrible service and the food was 2 stars. What a waste of money.
R.
IMO, the strange thing is the Hilton just spent $$$ to convert the tennis courts into pickleball courts, only to erect story poles, so they can’t be used. I don’t think they were ever used. These courts will now be a casualty of this proposed construction. Odd.
Their Pickleball courts are open. I saw quite a few people playing this morning.
The Post better focus on a bike lock area.
The Post should focus on a lot of things. Also lock the restrooms properly so the homeless aren’t sleeping in there overnight (this is even with the existing code lock). Lock in a better outdoor playlist (and please turn the volume down – this is not an outdoor Miami mall). Lock in a LOCAL property manager instead of showing up whenever she wants to from LA to walk her dog around the courtyard and then leave. Lock in an arborist to manage the palm fronds constantly falling on cars in the parking lot. Lock your wallet in the car because there are only expensive shops and nothing local/reasonable/reflection of SB lifestyle. And get those (hair) locks ready to choose from 20+ hairstylists coming soon to the upstairs ?? Renovation looks nice despite termite mess in most stores, but the store choices are not that useful in my opinion.
Show us on the doll where The Post hurt you.
LOLOL
Jefferson- that comment is the funniest comment I have seen in a very long time- I am going to steal it! hahahaha
OMG! The best response EVER!
Bike racks at The Post were installed weeks ago on E Cabrillo near Ospi’s patio.
Lots and lots of hotel expansion and new hotel approvals all over Santa Barbara.
Also SB spending a fortune tracking down citizens who use their rentals on a short term basis (like hotels). In fact, most of Santa Barbara is zoned to eliminate short term rentals; yet new hotels can go in the same areas.
I would say they can’t have it both ways — but they clearly can.
Maybe the short termers aren’t paying their city taxes while causing hell for neighbors. Short term renters are loud, create excess trash, and take up parking spaces. The city is not zoned for this.
The Hilton expansion– at the cost of how many trees??
Finally a solution to leaving REI and wanting to go eastbound. You had to go to the other side of State before. Can’t wait for it to be finally implemented.
I agree! Going to REI is so convenient, but getting back home.. Argh!! The same was true of the (former) Staples parking lot.
I’m so glad they fixed the intersection of Anacapa and Haley. I drive through there multiple times per day and either someone would turn left or go straight and just completely change lanes in the middle of the intersection when there was another car next to them. I’ve almost been hit so many times that I came to expect it.