Once again government action killed a lifetime of work. In this case, the loss of customers started before the virus—when the city closed the main street in town, State Street. The final straw was when government closed Victoria Street. Yes, the virus was also to blame—but it was the closing of streets that did the damage.
Everyone knew when you took away the cars, you took away the customers. Now Newsom wants to give tax dollars to fix the problems caused by government. Open the streets and the financial problems are solved.
Jeannine’s Restaurant and Bakery Closes Permanently in Downtown Santa Barbara
COVID-19 shutdown leads to the end of location at the edge of La Arcada Plaza after 15 years
By Joshua Molina, Noozhawk, 1/11/21
Downtown Santa Barbara has lost another business.
Jeannine’s restaurant and bakery at 15 E. Figueroa St. formally closed its doors on Monday. The owner of the popular eatery said on Monday that the COVID-19 pandemic hit the restaurant hard.
“You don’t fly a plane when you have two passengers,” owner Alison Hardey said. “The costs don’t make sense. You have to at some point face reality.”
Hardey opened Jeannine’s 15 years ago at the edge of La Arcada Plaza. It was a popular breakfast and lunch destination for nearby law firm employees, library patrons and wandering tourists looking for a delicious bite to eat.
The decline in government employees working nearby at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse and Administration Building clobbered the restaurant’s bottom line.
Ironically, the city’s swift move to close State Street to cars and allow outdoor dining and parklets also hurt Jeannine’s, and some other restaurants farther up State Street.
Much of the restaurant clientele that remained headed to the 500 block of State Street. And although Hardey spent a lot of money to build a parklet, she said it was “a little scary” to sit outdoors, with the buses that rumbled through.
The closure of a block of Victoria Street nearby was “the last piece to fall for us.”
Hardy posted a sign on her window early Monday.
