Quick Take
A deadly fire at a Capitola Village home Monday night damaged nearby buildings, forcing Mijo’s Taqueria to close indefinitely. The blaze also disrupted the Guajardo family’s plans to open Sandie Scoops, a new ice cream parlor next door, though they hope it could still open sooner than the taqueria.
At 9:49 p.m. on Monday, Anthony Guajardo got a call from a neighbor that the building next to his restaurant in Capitola Village was on fire.
Guajardo and his wife, Andrea, rushed to the scene on Monterey Avenue in the village. Flames leapt from the two-story home next door to Mijo’s Taqueria and across the alleyway, blackening the side of the building that houses Mijo’s on the first floor and Geisha Japanese Restaurant and Tea House on the second.
Firefighters were able to put the fire out in about an hour. Tragically, a man whom firefighters rescued from the burning building later died at the hospital. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
On Tuesday morning, both buildings were roped off, but traffic was moving normally through the village. Mijo’s sustained water and smoke damage, and is closed indefinitely. Guajardo said he will be able to determine a reopening date after the city inspects the building. Geisha sustained minimal damage, according to a report from the Central Fire District of Santa Cruz County. The owner didn’t respond to messages on social media or a phone call to the restaurant.
The fire affected not just one of the Guajardos’ businesses, but two. The couple planned to open an ice cream parlor this Friday in the space next door to Mijo’s recently vacated by LG Meats Capitola.
Andrea Guajardo was painting the inside walls with colorful sprinkles and playful ice cream-like drips on Monday evening, and left right before the fire broke out. The shop will be a whimsical, old-school parlor in the tradition of Souza’s Ice Cream & Candy, she said, which was in the same space for many years. The Guajardos partnered with Marianne’s Ice Cream to serve Treat Ice Cream, a family-founded, San Jose-based brand that Marianne’s purchased and produces at its facility in Santa Cruz’s Westside neighborhood.
They named the shop Sandie Scoops after Andrea Guajardo’s grandmother, according to a flyer posted to the window last week. Since the fire didn’t reach across to the other side of the building and the space sustained minimal smoke and water damage, Andrea Guajardo said she’s optimistic that the shop could open much sooner than the taqueria.
“Our goal is to get open as soon as we can with maintenance and structure fixes, then open the taqueria,” said Andrea, who was a pastry chef for 20 years at Bernardus Lodge & Spa in Carmel Valley, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and in San Diego.
The couple will share information about Mijo’s when they find out more. “Fingers crossed we might serve ice cream this summer, but probably not tacos,” Anthony Guajardo said.
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