What a difference an arch makes.
The Taco Bell at 821 N. Milpas St. is one of the oldest in the history of the iconic California franchise.
When it opened in 1965, live mariachi music greeted guests. The company handed out free Taco Bell beach hats, and Jingles the Clown blew up and gave balloons to the kids.
And atop the building was that classic bell — a relic and rarity from the past that remains there today.
But despite the long-lasting familiar feature, a single arch added in the 1990s has apparently doomed the building from being designated as a structure of merit or local landmark.
The city’s Historic Landmarks Commission voted 8-0 recently against designating the building as a structure of merit. City staff agreed.
The Taco Bell on Milpas Street is built in the style of the original buildings, which sprouted up in Los Angeles County beginning in 1962 in Downey. The original Taco Bells had three open air arches that people walked through to order at the counter.
That’s exactly what the Milpas location looked like until the owner added a fourth arch and created more indoor seating inside the building. The change was too much.
“It doesn’t retain its iconic street facade,” said Tim Hazeltine, senior partner for Post/Hazeltine, which did a historic resources report on the building.
The restaurant, known for its fast-casual, affordable Mexican food such as the crispy tacos, grilled cheese burrito, cinnamon twists and other tasty items, was the first Taco Bell in Santa Barbara. All of the others in the region experienced a corporate rebranding and rebuilding, have been altered significantly, or aren’t open as Taco Bells anymore, such as the Daily Grind on upper De la Vina.
The building on Milpas Street is notable because it is one of the few brands left where the product is mixed into the architecture.
“It is one of the few remaining examples of programmatic architecture,” he said. “What that means is that the architecture expresses something about the product that is being sold in the building.”
Hazeltine said the design “sort of evokes a Zorro, this is what a Spanish building would look like,” feel.
Preserving what’s left of the original Taco Bell buildings has been a priority for the company and some local communities. In 2015, the first Taco Bell, with the three arches, was relocated to Taco Bell’s Irvine headquarters. The company and the community preserved it for its historical significance, and it now sits in the parking lot of its Irvine headquarters.
Glen Bell, who died in 2010, opened the restaurant in Downey. It was about 400 square feet. The franchise was eventually purchased by Pepsi-Cola and then sold to Yum Brands, which also acquired Habit Burger Grill and owns KFC.
Some members of the HLC showed a fondness for the memory of Taco Bell. Board member Michael Drury asked Hazeltine if during any of the research they found a photo of him and his family eating there every Friday night.
Commissioner Dennis Doordan said often programmatic architecture carries great meaning.
“Some of them are considered real monuments of American commercial design,” Doordan said.
He said many people have created unforgettable memories at Taco Bell, and other American institutions.
Had the fourth arch not been added, the building likely would have qualified for a structure of merit.
“All of us can sit here and remember going to places like this,” Doordan said. “Nostalgia is different than historical significance. Nostalgia, in my opinion, is not a reason to preserve.”