Coming home to Casalegno’s: Descendants set to reopen historic mountainside market this fall

In Santa Cruz County, “Casalegno’s” is associated with two entities: a generational family farm on Old San Jose Road, and a historic country store and farmhouse next door at the intersection of Laurel Glen Road. With the name — the “g” is soft, like “lasagne” — emblazoned in blue and white across the front, it’s impossible to miss as one zips north from Soquel on winding, redwood-lined roads.  

The small store was founded by the Casalegno family in 1926, using money patriarch George Casalegno earned in the Alaskan Gold Rush. He built the business into the front of their home, and it became a fixture for nearby communities throughout the 20th century, offering everything from gas, cigarettes and baseball cards to hardware and baby chicks. Those that visited through the 1980s remember George’s son, Frank Casalegno, who ran the store from a wheelchair after sustaining a childhood injury, used a cigar box as a register and always had a story to tell. 

“Everybody treated everybody the same. That was one of the principles that my family always had. It didn’t matter how dirty you came in, or how clean, or how rich, or whatever,” said descendant Matt Kotila of his great-uncle. 

In the early 2000s, the family stepped away from daily operations and leased the space to another business owner. For 17 years, the association between the farm and the store was in name only while Gina Lund ran the shop. In 2021, Lund shifted the focus away from candy bars and sodas to organic and holistic products and renamed it 3 Sisters 3 Corners at Casalegno’s, before closing the store in January. 

This fall, Casalegno descendents are uniting the store and the farm for the first time in two decades, and aim to revive it into a community cornerstone. 

Matt, whose mother was a Casalegno, and his wife, Marissa Kotila, have operated the family estate since 2004, growing tomatoes, fragrant red garlic, flat Romano beans, and summer squash for nearby markets. Both have full time jobs — Matt is a public works supervisor for Capitola and Marissa is a hairdresser — but were drawn to agriculture and the connections at the markets. 

As the only male grandchild in his family, Matt grew up fixing tractors, working in the fields and orchards, and vending at markets. After he met Marissa in the late 1990s, she began helping his grandmother, Viola Casalegno, at the downtown farmers market, and fell in love with the close relationships she saw between the Casalegno family and the people who came to their stall every week. 

At 78, Viola was ready to retire. “I thought, we can’t let this go. This is so special,” said Marissa. She didn’t know anything about farming, but asked her husband if they could help manage the orchards and fields. “He asked, ‘you want to farm?’ I said, ‘yeah, I guess I do.’” 

By 2004, the torch passed to the young couple, and they lived in the home behind the country store for seven years while raising three children. For 25 years, a collection of family members owned the building, but earlier this year, they decided they were ready to move on, and offered it to the Kotilas. 

“Circling back, it was really like coming home,” said Matt. Twenty years ago, the couple dreamed of creating a community hub where nearby residents could gather for coffee, a bite to eat, local produce, and shared information.  Today, they are excited to see their long-held vision come to fruition.

“We’re not trying to necessarily recreate the past, but we want the spirit of this place to continue on, with these things that matter to us: agriculture, feeding people, and relationships,” said Marissa. 

The store will highlight local products from nearby family farms, everything from fresh fruits, vegetables and cider to eggs, milk, meat and homemade goods like pasta, pickles and sauces. Customers can also pick up coffee, cold drinks, snacks, and prepared items like pre-made sandwiches. 

The Kotilas are currently building out the store, with a goal of opening in September. Eventually, they hope to welcome visitors daily, they said. 

With no other shops serving nearby residents, and Soquel three curving miles away, longtime friends encouraged Matt to reopen the store. “They voiced to me that this is something that they would like to see back in our community, and they look forward to being able to stop in and get their milk, eggs and things,” he said. “It doesn’t seem like a long way from here to town, but you get to the middle of the week, and sometimes traffic backs up 30 minutes to go down to town.” 

Standing on a foundation of family history, Matt and Marissa hope to build something for future generations. “You want to live in the hearts of these people,” said Marissa. “There are so many stories that have come before, and I hope we can continue to be a space for that.”