‘Our oxygen is getting cut off’: Seabright and harbor businesses struggle as Murray Street Bridge shuts down

Before the Murray Street Bridge closed to all traffic last week, coffee shop owner Michael Spadafora would drive across the bridge multiple times a day to visit his Java Junction Coffee Roasting locations in the Seabright neighborhood and at the mouth of the Santa Cruz Harbor next to The Crow’s Nest restaurant. 

When the bridge closed to westbound traffic toward Seabright at the end of March, Spadafora noticed a plunge in sales at his coffee shop in that neighborhood. A week after the traffic across the bridge closed in both directions on June 23, the café near the harbor on the east side of the bridge saw a similar dip. 

“I didn’t notice it at the harbor store until they closed it in both directions. My weekday sales are down about 20-25%. The Seabright store has been down about 20-25% the entire time,” said Spadafora. During the same period, he saw an increase in sales at his other Java Junction location, on River Street in Santa Cruz. “It’s not economic. It’s because the bridge is closed.”

Businesses on both sides of the bridge are grappling with a full closure of the major thoroughfare to two-way traffic through at least February 2026. Full or partial closures of the bridge are slated to continue through January 2028 while the bridge undergoes seismic retrofitting and crews construct a new pedestrian and bike path. Locally owned food and drink spots report that revenue has dried up significantly since the bridge closed one-way toward Seabright three months ago, and worry about how a full closure will further deter customers as traffic is rerouted around the neighborhoods along Soquel Avenue. Many anticipate having to cut hours or employees in order to stay afloat. 

The thousands of commuters, neighbors and tourists who crossed the bridge daily were a vital source of income for the coffee shops, restaurants, bars and markets in the area. A 2022 Santa Cruz County traffic count reported that more than 17,300 cars drove across the bridge between Seabright Avenue and 7th Avenue on an average weekday. All of that traffic has been lost, said Spadafora. 

“It’s seriously affecting all the businesses. A business like mine operates on a 5-10% profit,” he said. “We need as much support as we can from the community to get through this.” 

Bar owner Karen Madura saw a similar 20-25% drop in sales at Brady’s Yacht Club, a longstanding watering hole on Seabright Avenue, immediately after construction on the bridge began last spring. A Seabright resident, she said the whole neighborhood feels empty. “I’m trying to sound the alarm to staff, customers and people that care about Seabright. I’m worried that our oxygen is getting cut off in a big way,” said Madura. 

Last week, Brady’s Yacht Club took another hit. The bar has been a popular stop before and after the free summer beach parties in front of The Crow’s Nest on Thursday evenings May through August. Those are typically some of Madura’s busiest nights in the summer, but last Thursday — the first beach party since the full bridge closure — her sales were down 20% for that night because, she believes, customers were unable to walk across the bridge from the harbor area to her bar on the other side. 

Sales and reservations were down this spring at elegant Italian restaurant La Posta in Seabright, but owner Patrice Boyle is hesitant to place all of the blame for the downturn on the bridge closure. She thinks that anxieties about President Donald Trump’s economic policies might discourage people from going out to eat, and a reaction to inflation could also be contributing to the slump. “It could be general malaise, the bridge, or a combination of the two. We will see what happens now that it’s closed both ways,” said Boyle. 

She’s worried about what the closure will mean for vital summer sales at her restaurant. “We wait for summer because that’s the only way we can stay in business. I’m under water now, but that’s kind of normal,” said Boyle. Like many restaurants in tourism-driven Santa Cruz, La Posta makes most of its annual revenue during the busy summer season. “In the winter and spring you have some good days, but we need the summer.”

The city is promoting Seabright businesses in an effort to bring traffic to the area during the closure. It placed “Shop Local” street pole banners on Murray Street before Seabright Avenue; another 13 wayfinding signs along the detour route state that Seabright and harbor businesses are open during construction. The city also purchased advertising on local radio stations KAZU and KSQD, on Lookout Santa Cruz and via newsletter and social media spotlights. 

“We have spent about $1,300 on promotions so far, plan to run additional promotions this fall/winter during the holiday season and will plan for more ads over the next two years of the project as well,” said economic development manager Rebecca Unitt in an email to Lookout. 

Like other business owners in the area, Boyle said she is frustrated by what she sees as a lack of planning by the city to create a way for at least bikes and pedestrians to cross the harbor. “This is going to go on for a minimum of three years. That’s a long, long time,” she said of the bridge retrofit, although the span won’t be fully closed that entire time. A walkway for pedestrians and cyclists to travel across the harbor during construction would have benefited nearby businesses, she said. 

Hans Haveman, co-owner of H&H Fresh Fish, a fish market in the harbor, hasn’t seen a huge dip since bridge construction began, but he said he has been frustrated by the amount of time the closure has added to his commute. Streets in the surrounding areas have become congested with drivers detoured through other areas of the city. “It adds 40 minutes to my day commuting from Scotts Valley. It’s harder for my delivery vans to get in and out,” he said. 

Haveman and business partner Heidi Rhodes are hoping to reach customers on the other side of the bridge with a new satellite market in Santa Cruz’s buzzy Westside neighborhood. H&H West is slated to open later this summer in the Swift Street Courtyard between Swift and Ingalls streets. 

Haveman said they’ll know within the next few weeks what the impact of the full bridge closure will be. Summer should be the seafood market’s busiest time of year, with customers coming by to purchase sustainably and locally caught fish, oysters and shellfish. 

Owners on both sides of the bridge say they feel there’s little they can do to help the situation. Some personally thank customers willing to make the trip, or are doing extra promotion on social media to encourage people to visit. While there have been some discussions among Seabright businesses about marketing collectively, owners said they already have their hands full with daily responsibilities.

Brady’s Yacht Club owner Madura’s biggest fear for the next few years is that the length of the closure will cause people to change their daily habits – that they’ll start stopping somewhere else on their new route home for a beer at the end of the day, a pizza for dinner or a cup of coffee on the way to work.

“The fact that this project is taking so long is really daunting,” she said, and hopes that people won’t forget about the small but vibrant neighborhood during bridge construction. “It’s important for the community to show appreciation for the Seabright area. It’s its own little vital pocket and a fun alternative for people to go to.” 

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