A tequila-themed restaurant inside a whimsical Jeff Shelton-designed building is headed to State Street.
The Santa Barbara Historic Landmarks Commission on Wednesday gave final approval to the project at the corner of State and Ortega streets. The now-vacant building will take on a dramatic new look, with two decorative blue and white arches and six windows that look out onto Ortega Street.
“It’s an adventurous, lovely building,” Commissioner Michael Drury said.
The building itself has not enjoyed much success in the past decade. It struggled as both Left at Albuquerque and Panera Grill, both of which closed after short runs. Shelton, however, has a reputation for breathing life into his buildings. His work includes the small but tall Ablitt Tower, the El Jardin Apartments and the Vera Cruz House.
The restaurant would go next to the 7-Eleven, which moved into the space next door, splitting the building into two.
It’s a unique block that has slowly changed in the past decade. Across the street used to be Johnny’s Delicatessen, a place for homemade-style sandwiches, which turned into a cellular phone store. Across the street is the former Macy’s building, which now sits empty and is likely to become office buildings soon.
A block away, on the corner of Anacapa and Ortega streets, is the La Paloma Cafe, formerly the Paradise Cafe. New apartments are across the street.
“A lot of things have happened over the years, and I want to add back to the street here and the prominent location on State Street,” Shelton said at a recent meeting.
Shelton said the State Street frontage will be “open,” instead of the dark patio that is there now.
If anyone can breathe sustained life into the corner, it’s Shelton, a world-renowned architect with a flair for edgy.
“We really want to turn this building down Ortega Street so it is a whole building, not just a facade stuck to a box on State Street,” Shelton said.
Shelton plans a new palm tree in front of the building, in the patio area, and to open the roof to bring sunlight into the patio and restaurant. Shelton said he worked hard to distinguish the building from the adjacent 7-Eleven.
“We didn’t want it to be the restaurant and 7-Eleven. Which one do you go to?” Shelton said. “Even though it is one building, we are saying this is a building and 7-Eleven is a building. We just want to provide a competent building on the corner.”
The goal, Shelton said, is to create a corner that sends people in both directions — up State Street, but also Ortega Street — and gives people a two-dimensional experience. The blue and white, 30-degree arches will be in the Moorish tradition and can be seen all over Spain, Shelton said.
The restaurant will be called Augie’s and owned by Berkeley “Augie” Johnson. He told Noozhawk that he expects to open the bar in early 2022.
“I simply love agave and all the things you can do with the agave genus,” Johnson said. “They make amazing firebreaks for the next fire that will inevitably sweep through our neighborhood, and the reason I have planted thousands of them in local folks’ defensible spaces to mitigate the next big burn, and can, through a magical alchemy of distillation and proper agriculture, make simply amazing tequila, mezcals and agave spirits.”
He said one of the tequilas will be called “Firebreak,” which will celebrate the local firefighter and first responder community.
“This place will be my opus to agave and to my desire to elevate the distillation arts and to reflect my desire to continue elevating the Central Coast’s food and spirit offerings,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he and his wife raised four kids in Santa Barbara, all going to local schools and two of whom went on to UCSB.
“We are embedded in the community and want to embrace and rejoice in our community’s resiliency and celebrate our continued trajectory at every opportunity,” Johnson said. “Augie’s will reflect that ideal, and I can’t wait to raise a glass on opening day with everyone that has supported our family over the years.”
Commissioner Steve Hausz supported the project.
“I adore this project,” Hausz said. “I am really looking forward to it being completed.”
Only Commissioner Robert Ooley expressed concerns about the design. He suggested that if the panel wants to support such types of creative projects, that the El Pueblo Viejo guidelines should be changed.
“In my opinion, the project does not fit EPV guidelines,” Ooley said.
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
