The city of Carpinteria has not issued an official order closing bars and restaurants. Some business owners are staying open to serve customers.
“We’re informing the Carpinteria community pursuant to the guidance provided by the California Department of Public Health and Santa Barbara County Public Health Department. We’re monitoring the situation in our community and at this point feel that our business community is responding very well to the guidance. For example, restaurants are providing curbside pickup, to-go service,” City Manager Dave Durflinger said Wednesday.
Carpinteria City councilman Fred Shaw added that the Carpinteria Chamber of Commerce has put out a statement asking bar and wine rooms to abide by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s request for restaurants to transition to takeout service only for the time being.
“There hasn’t been a mandatory thing, but then Newsom didn’t make it absolutely mandatory,” Mr. Shaw said.
On Tuesday, the Santa Barbara City Council made an emergency proclamation that adopted Mr. Newsom’s recommendation into a mandatory order based on guidance from the California Department of Public Health.
The city of Santa Barbara also ordered bars, wineries, breweries and pubs to close.
Santa Barbara County Public Health Department spokeswoman Jackie Ruiz said restaurants outside the city of Santa Barbara are strongly encouraged, but not mandated to follow suit. Ms. Ruiz clarified the guidelines also apply to coffee shops that serve food.
“As you can see, I think there are still members of the community that would like a safe place to have something to eat,” said Ryan Moore, owner of Lucky Llama Coffee House, at 5100 Carpinteria Ave.
Mr. Moore said he plans to stay open until there is a mandatory order in place for Carpinteria.
“Like most people, you know, I can’t afford to walk away, so that’s kind of what it boils down to. There’s not a lot of clarity with exactly how we’re supposed to operate. Our supply chain still seems fine, although we’re ordering maybe a quarter of what we normally would,” Mr. Moore said.
The Worker Bee Cafe, at 973 Linden Ave., was open for dine-in and takeout orders on Thursday morning. The normally bustling dining room was empty, except for one couple seated at the window.
Owner Rick Mancilla said the restaurant will remain open for dine-in customers as long as possible.
“The county, they said they would like dine-in to stop, but the city (of Carpinteria) hasn’t. A lot of the people that do call us, they’re actually looking for dine-in. I think people want a little normalcy in their lives and they wanna get away from all the media stuff,” Mr. Mancilla said.
Oaxaca Fresh Owner Haile Carmona said he only served takeout for a few days and plans to go back to offering dine-in service. Oaxaca Fresh is located at 721 Linden Ave.
“As a restaurant, this is not fast food. It’s more like a place to dine-in,” Mr. Carmona said.
Danny’s Deli Bait & Tackle Owner Danny Kellogg doesn’t have a traditional dining room, but he’s allowing customers to enjoy their sandwiches on the patio outside his business.
“I have employees that need to get a paycheck, and so do I. So, we’re trying to do some business and my hope is my to-go business for sandwiches picks up,” Mr. Kellogg said.
The deli, tackle shop and car wash is located at 4890 Carpinteria Ave. Mr. Kellogg has owned the business for 36 years.
“Our barbecued tri-tip sandwich is our signature sandwich, but they’re all good. We cook our turkeys on site, fresh cooked. I’m still open until it gets worse. Right now, I’m not making enough to pay the rent, but I’m keeping my employees with a paycheck right now and I feel pretty good about that.” Mr. Kellogg said.
Giannfranco’s Trattoria, located at 666 Linden Ave., is also offering dine-in service.
The Carpinteria and Linden Pub, at 4954 Carpinteria Ave., is open for the time being, owner Katie Leonesio said.
“We’re not turning anyone away, but we’re getting the same 10 to 15 regulars every day who want to come in for a beer. We’re taking it day by day, the bills obviously aren’t going away. We wanted to get some money in and serve our regulars,” she said.
email: pgonzalez@newspress.com
