The Lake City Diner in downtown Santa Rosa, N.M., abruptly closed in late May less than a year after it reopened, reported the current print edition of the Guadalupe County Communicator.
And the building will be converted into a residence for the owners instead of being put up for sale to another possible restaurateur, according to the newspaper.
The Communicator reported:
Owners Rhonda and Richard “Dicky” Gutierrez closed the business just shy of their one-year anniversary, saying they were barely breaking even amid a prolonged downturn in the tourism economy and a decades-long shift of business uphill to a chain-filled stretch of Historic Route 66 on the eastern side of the city. […]
The new owners got a slow start, including delays in securing a wine and beer license, and when the slow winter months arrived, business was downright dreadful, they said. […]
They said they were moving to “Plan A,” which is to keep the building, sell much of the restaurant furniture and fixtures, and convert the downstairs space into a residence for themselves. […} It’s unclear whether the conversion will require any zoning changes or city approval.
In recent months, Santa Rosa’s downtown has seen the closing of a video store, historic Pecos Theatre, and the large V&S Variety store.
Santa Rosa seeks to convert the historic Ilfeld Warehouse just north of downtown into a Route 66 museum and other uses, and recently secured some state funding for that effort. The Gutierrezes agreed that such a downtown attraction would have greatly improved business at their restaurant.
That’s too bad. I was there in 2010 but it was closed then as well. I think the diner trade in Santa Rosa is still steady, but that the tourist spending there is way down. The chain joints right off I40 are taking a lot of business. Joseph’s continues to do well, and gets a large share of any Route 66 type traffic. A lot of them still think Joseph’s is the Club Cafe because of the fat man sign. Too bad because Santa Rosa is a nice town. I think the Ilfeld warehouse is a waste of money and is more about politics. Mayor Campos stuck his neck out to find funding for the place and has promised to deliver. Locals tell me that they don’t see much in terms of tourism from the effort, as Ilfeld has no connection to Route 66 and is a hard sell. That’s true, as it would be a real embellishment to claim it has a 66 connection. They’d be better off spending funds on tourist promotions through Route 66 channels (such as this blog). Today nearly every town or spot on old Route 66 seems to have a museum or some sort of offerring related to 66, and the day that that was a draw may be gone simply through over-exposure. With tourism down and money hard to come by, travelers will be drawn to established sites and places on the route and probably pass on ‘historically recreated’ ventures. I still think Winslow and Seligman, Arizona are the best 66 places, with Tucumari right up there. Also, another great effort by the Santa Rosa paper.
I may have been premature on the issue here, as evidenced by Santa Rosa’s recent debt crisis. The premise of my point was that the money was being spent in a strange way, and that it didn’t smell right. I know Mayor Campos has pushed several efforts to develope Santa Rosa, and I still don’t follow if those efforts have led to their current debts. I’d heard Grants was in the same boat, and now they’ve come out and claim the same.
The restaurant has reopened. Best red chile in town.