Category Archives: Coast Weakly

Golf Course Grill Closing

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Rent went up to $15,000 a month. Need to sell 652 orders of avocado toast just to meet a month’s rent.

golf grill

The restaurant that serves both golfers at the Pacific Grove Municipal Golf Course and the general public has won “Best Restaurant at a Golf Course” three years in a row in the Monterey County Weekly Best Of readers polls, as well as “Best Huevos Rancheros.” It’s a favorite brunch spot of many and is consistently busy during peak hours.

Despite the success, Aceves gave the city her 60-day notice in mid-September after the two sides could not come to an agreement on rent. On the same day the Best Of winners were revealed, Oct. 9, Aceves thanked supporters on social media for the restaurant’s awards then ended with the announcement that the grill’s last day will be Nov. 21.

Golf Course Grill Closing

Del Monte Park Rest Home Former Owners Fined

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DMP Del Monte Park

Were the residents made to sign away their Social Security checks and have MediCal pay the max amount allowed for this marginal care?

The former owners of an assisted living facility in Pacific Grove have agreed to pay $145,000 in civil penalties and costs for allegedly failing to adequately background check employees as well as not providing enough staff to care for residents, Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni announced on Sept. 15.

New owners purchased the assisted living business in 2023 and received new licensing. They are currently working toward purchasing the land and buildings as well, according to Matthew Delbruegge, owner of Del Monte Care. The new name of the facility is Del Monte Village.

Del Monte Park Rest Home Former Owners Fined

Squids Got Ties To Ojai

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Squid

Another day, another Weakly hit piece on Luke Coletti for having held ex–City Manager Ben Harvey accountable. Here’s what Squid (Pam Marino) won’t mention: multiple Ojai employees—many of them women—have filed complaints against Harvey for workplace harassment and discrimination.

The record is damning:
Three complaints already filed
A fourth complaint pending
All involve harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and other unlawful conduct
Instead of attacking oversight, maybe ask why Ben Harvey keeps generating complaints from Ojai city staff.

See for yourself:

Complaint #1
Complaint #2
Complaint #3

Squids Got Ties To Ojai

Developer/Dentist Buys Lighthouse Cinema

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Adeeb has a questionable past.

Lighthouse Cinema

Three months after being put on sale by the Enea family, Lighthouse Cinema and Event Center in downtown Pacific Grove has a new, hopeful owner, a P.G. dentist, a Seaside resident and property owner, Ayman Adeeb, who has been investing in the community through real estate developments.

Preserving Pacific Grove’s architectural identity is Adeeb’s priority, he says. “I love the smell of the place,” he continues enthusiastically. “It smells like history. We will have ice cream, draft beer and school talent shows. I want Lighthouse Cinema to feel like home.”

Developer/Dentist Buys Lighthouse Cinema

Not So Fast For That 130% City Council Pay Increase

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We have people acting as if serving on the council is some kind of full time career.

Pay Raise Signatures

P.G. City Council, led by Mayor Nick Smith, voted 5-2 in favor of an increase based on Senate Bill 329, passed in 2023, which amended state law on compensating councilmembers. The changes allow for a five-percent increase per year since the last increase, in P.G.’s case, 1998. It means councilmembers would see an increase from $420 to $966 per month. In the mayor’s case the increase is $700 to $1,610. In either case, it’s a 130-percent increase.

That pushback came two weeks later in the form of a referendum filed by former councilmember Luke Coletti, representing a group called Transparent Pacific Grove. Citing projected budget challenges in the coming years, Coletti called for the decision to go to the voters in an election or be rescinded by the council.

Opponents of the referendum have suggested that some volunteers were incorrectly telling people that the increase in compensation included health care and future raises. Former mayor Bill Peake brought up the question during a council meeting on June 18. Coletti clapped back, accusing Peake and others of spreading disinformation.

Not So Fast For That 130% City Council Pay Increase

Most Popular New Attraction: A Flame Broiled Burger Joint

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Whatever brings ’em in. Too bad the last fast-food place this side of the tunnel is gone.Carl's Jr flames

The burned-out husk of the Carl’s Jr. building on the corner of Lighthouse and David avenues draws passersby with their phones out, snapping photos of the pile of rubble that neighbors the Pacific Grove Tourist Information Center and is a stone’s throw from the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Monterey Fire Division Chief Justin Cooper says insurance investigators are still combing the property to try to determine the cause of the fire, which remains unknown. Due to the severity of the damage, the cause may never be discovered, but Cooper says it doesn’t appear the fire was set intentionally.

Most Popular New Attraction: A Flame Broiled Burger Joint

Failed IMAX Theater’s Next Venture, A Fly & Dive

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Like that’s going to be a real Monterey Experience. More than black light mini golf, more than a diving bell, it’s a Fly & Dive. Check back in a few, see if it’s still a thing. Hint: Bring back the Edgewater Packing Company.

Edgewater Packing

Work has resumed on a new attraction inside the long-shuttered movie theater on Cannery Row, nearly three years after its permits were approved by the Monterey Planning Commission.

A sign posted on the door of the building at 640 Wave St. notifies passersby that work has commenced at the property, which is owned by the Cannery Row Company. The lessee is listed as Fly Dive, LLC, doing business as Monterey Fly & Dive.

Failed IMAX Theater’s Next Venture, A Fly & Dive

Mr Mogensen, Tear Down These Walls

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Ugly donkey corrals to be replaced by wider sidewalks for dining. Let’s see how many people want to eat in the fog with seagulls overhead.

Parklett Parking

The pandemic parklets that saved a number of Pacific Grove restaurants from closure as well as kept sales taxes flowing into city coffers, will come to an end by Oct. 31, the P.G. City Council voted on Wednesday, April 2.

City Manager Matt Mogensen was asking the council for direction on the parklet program as a deadline loomed for restaurants to renew parklet permits on June 30 for another year.

Since the city was moving toward sidewalk dining, Mogensen asked if they should sunset parklets. He suggested they give restaurant owners an incentive to remove their parklets early by waiving sidewalk dining fees costing $905 for the first year.

With the tourist season coming up, the council decided to extend sunsetting the program until Oct. 31. In the meantime, owners could choose to end by June 30, with fees waived and the city bearing the cost of removing their parklets.

Mr Mogensen, Tear Down These Walls

Trouble! In Butterfly City

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The Music Man

As the town becomes less of a residential town and more of a “destination”. But it’s never like a business applies for a permit to serve alcohol and play loud live music and expand to the sidewalk and street. It’s always a foot in the door then a gradual change.

Hops and Fog Brewing Co. owner Mike Durrant is part of downtown Pacific Grove’s nighttime renaissance from a sleepy business district to a place where music flows regularly from small bands or DJs. It’s attracting new patrons—and their wallets— to the city.

“We’re changing. The town is coming to life for the first time ever,” Durrant says, adding that the music is drawing people from all over the county looking for entertainment.

While Durrant has good relationships with nearby Hops and Fog neighbors, other business owners he partners with for events have struggled with noise complaints. In the last six months there have been at least 12 code enforcement complaints related to downtown music, according to P.G. City Manager Matt Mogensen.

Trouble! In Butterfly City

Fish Jail Workers Want To Unionize

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Aquarium Kalisas

Of course management is going to reject laying down for a labor union. Secret ballot is the best way.

About a month after union organizers sent a request for voluntary recognition of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Workers United (MBAWU) union, which would represent all non-management staff at the Aquarium, the request was denied by Aquarium management. Executive Director Julie Packard, who recently announced her retirement, sent a message to Aquarium employees stating: “We want to be sure we honor each of your voices… That’s why holding a secret ballot election is the best path forward.”

“Really what they’re doing is forcing workers to vote twice,” Anderson says. “I think a lot of our leaders were disappointed in management’s decision because the Monterey Bay Aquarium is such a stalwart supporter of ocean conservation and a leader on a lot of progressive fronts. We figured that they would also do the right thing and stand by their workers.”

Fish Jail Workers Want To Unionize