Since it seems that every day I go past another shuttered business, we obviously have retail and office space to spare. Why not seize the situation as an opportunity to fill those spaces with businesses we actually NEED in town and to encourage entrepreneurs to meet those needs? Okay, here’s my list.
A GOOD KOSHER DELI Those healthy delis at Co-Op and ENF don’t count. Not enough cholesterol. A warm, juicy, greasy pastrami san with a latke or two can rejuvenate your soul for a week. The pastrami Reuben at Hole-in-the- Wall is close, but where’s the chicken liver? The matzoh ball soup? We await our deliverance.
MORE PARKING IN HENDERSON CENTER The situation is just on the edge of being too crowded and if the Henderson Center Market Place or anything else ever comes to roost in the old Robert’s space or along Henderson Street, the tipping point will have been reached. The demise of the Go Go Bistro, a nice little lunch spot with an unusual menu,is truly sad, and I wouldn’t be surprised if parking was one of the contributing factors. By the way, it was reported in the media that Esmeralda’s restaurant on Grotto was the target of an arson attack. If so, the firebugs must have had pretty poor aim. The morning after, Esmeralda’s was open for lunch with nary a scratch but the building NEXT to it, further toward “G” was boarded up and as of today was sporting a “For Sale” sign. Parking’s pretty good on that block, by the way.
A RELIABLE SHUTTLE BETWEEN EUREKA AND REDDING enabling travelers to bypass our ill-located and unreliable airport. The first person to do this legally will make some money. There are already wildcat outfits going after this market. Check Craig’s List. And how about a shuttle to Eugene? You can pick up the AMTRAK there.
HUMBOLDT-MADE YOGURT from local cows. Not that frozen stuff, real yogurt.
TAKEOUT CHICKEN With the departure of KFC (the closest now is in Fortuna) and the fact that its sort-of replacement, Church’s, is execrable, we are left with Winco which is meh and COSTCO which is a whole different thing, being rotisserie vs. fried. When you go for takeout chicken you don’t want healthy, although El Pollo Loco is delicious and I’d be a regular if someone opened one here. Anyone? I’d be a regular at Chic-Fil-A too if they ever made it up here, even with their weird management and policies (closed on Sundays.)
GYROS Having to drive to Valley West to the Kebab Cafe is just wrong. At one time Simon was talking about opening in Eureka. Hurry, Simon! and finally
KOREAN FOOD Since that place near the Arcata Safeway closed, there is nothing. How can we have an Ethiopean restaurant in Eureka but no Korean? Bad show.
So come on, entrepreneurs, here are your pockets of opportunity. I imagine you folks can think of some more felt needs around town. Let’s hear from you!
Try the Pita Grill for your Gyro fix. They are the Mediterranean food cart located in the Pacific Outfitters parking lot in Arcata. Open everyday from 11am until 6pm. This is authentic stuff.
Thanks for the tip! I’ll try it. Gyros is one of my three or four favorite foods. And Happy Holidays.
The Go- Go Bistro closed??? I hadn’t noticed. Shame. I hadn’t been in there yet but it seemed like a fun place.
And it is weird how parking can be so tight in Henderson Center with so few real popular businesses.
There’s a big “For Lease” banner on what was the GoGo. I only ate there a couple of times but I thought they deserved to live. Their specialty was a BIG ball of ground lamb, very tasty but maybe people felt funny ordering the “lamb ball”. The parking problem stems from the fact that none of the businesses have their own parking. The lot at F and Grotto, Robert’s lot, which is full all the time now, and the RiteAid lot is IT.
The wife had been to the Go- Go. She was bummed it closed. I just asked her about it and she said the cook supposedly got a job out of the area. He left and the place closed along with him leaving.
The parking is tough for me as I’m nearly always dragging a trailer behind my truck. About the only place I can regularly park is the Rite- Aid parking lot. Either that, or sometimes on the street along Harris on the south side of that lot.
There’s a few other small lots besides Roberts and Rite- Aid. The small one next to the old Henderson Center Pharmacy, the small one next to Fin & Feather and the small one by the laundromat and that potato place that’s in the old Coney Island. Still, it’s remarkable that parking is so tight there sometimes. The Farmer’s Market really screws things up.
Forgot about F&F. Agree about the Farmer’s Market. Great for people who are walking there anyway not so hot for driving. Which limits how much you can buy.
We have also used the Santa Rosa snoopy airport on Horizon, which last I checked has flights nonstop north out of state to Portland and Seattle and south to LAX and San Diego. Parking there is convenient. If you survive the HW101 drive then the flight provides a nice view of the desert of CA. With few delay/cancellation issues of RDD/CEC/ACV/SFO. Medford, Oregon is even closer.
Yes, if I have to fly again -and believe me I wouldn’t if there were other reasonable choices- I’ve been looking at flying out of Santa Rosa also. Appreciate your comments.
The KFC in Fortuna is now a Westside pizza.
One can take the Amtrak bus from ACV if one has a train ticket south to the Bay Area.
Also, you can get on the Amtrak train going north or south in Redding around 3 am. They even have a train station lobby/restrooms open at those hours. One tiny little sign hidden by the trees/bushes.
Our ill located and unreliable airport could bust dense fog and have landings if we flat topped the big hangar and then the FAA could update the instrument landing system as reported recently in the Times-Standard and the Mad River Union.
There is a public transit system going to the Medford airport out of Oregon (South West Point Shuttle out of Brookings).
Currently, the I5 shuttle between Redding and Sacramento airport has RDD down to 3 turboprop flights per day. They shuttle is in vans several times per day. With demand they launch more than one van at a time from Oxford Suites Hotel in Redding with several stops along the way. RDD has the same problems of CEC and ACV with unreliable service due to SFO. This is going to improve incrementally but I doubt it will help the SW/UE EMB-120’s.
Yes, I am unhappily familiar with the Oxford Suites dues to the several times I was dumped in Redding by Horizon. Agreed the horrible connection time in Redding is part of the problem.