Quick Take
After a series of punishing winter storms and a violent tidal surge dramatically damaged the Capitola Village restaurant in early January, the iconic beachfront spot anticipates a closure of several months while it rebuilds, and aims to reopen by Memorial Day.
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From the deck at Zelda’s On the Beach on the Esplanade in Capitola Village, visitors can typically enjoy serene, unobstructed views of Capitola’s beach, the nearby Capitola Wharf and Monterey Bay.
But after a series of punishing winter storms and a violent tidal surge dramatically damaged the restaurant in early January, the iconic beachfront spot anticipates a closure of several months while it rebuilds, and aims to reopen by Memorial Day.
As of Monday, the worst of a system of storms that pummeled California starting on New Year’s Eve appeared to be over and meteorologists have predicted a dry period of seven to 10 days.
ABOVE AND BEYOND IN THE STORMS
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The Zelda’s team is using this time to figure out what the next steps will be. Part of the restaurant still needs to be demolished, and anything that’s exposed needs to be protected from the elements so more wet weather doesn’t cause further damage. Zelda’s will need to be secured against theft and vandalism while under construction as well.
“Logistically it’s going to be a little bit of a nightmare on how to make things work, especially in the elements that are still coming,” said kitchen manager Josh Whitby.
On the morning of Jan. 5, as seawater surged over the Capitola sand, burst the oceanfront windows at Zelda’s and poured into the dining room, several strong words ran through Whitby’s mind — “a few different expletives.”
Whitby, whose wife, Jill Ealy, owns Zelda’s with her brother, John Ealy, was at the restaurant when the first wave came in just after 8 a.m. that morning and took out the windows. He quickly rushed to remove the sandbags by the front door so the salt water had somewhere to go. Then, around 9:45 a.m. another wave took out the back wall.
Because of its position at the end of the Esplanade directly facing the ocean, Zelda’s endured considerable destruction.
The 120-seat deck over Capitola Beach, where many mai tais have been consumed over the restaurant’s more than 40-year history, is now a pile of splinters. “There’s no tables, chairs or railing. Four out of the six umbrellas got taken out. All of the heaters got mangled,” Whitby said.
Inside, an unusual souvenir lay in the middle of the dining room: a piling cap from the nearby Capitola Wharf, which was partly destroyed during the same storm. It came in through the back wall — now gone. The back door was also completely blown out, reports Whitby. Another wall by the bathrooms had to be removed when the windows were pushed in, as did the floors, which had water, driftwood and detritus underneath them. The plywood floors under the laminate will need to be replaced when the new flooring comes in.
There is some good news: The bar is in decent condition and, despite its brush with seawater, the kitchen is still functional. However, because the power was out for four days following the surge, all of the food that was in the kitchen was lost.
Despite the damage, Whitby, who worked in construction before he became the kitchen manager 10 years ago, is optimistic about the path forward. “I think very methodically when it comes to this kind of stuff, so I knew that it was all fixable. And that’s where we’re at,” he said. “Structurally, we’re sound. We’re missing walls. We’re missing windows. We’re missing a floor. But other than that we’re ready to go.”
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He hopes that the popular dining destination will reopen by Memorial Day, or, optimistically, in time for spring break, which typically falls during the last week of March. “We’re going to be trying to open up and get people down here as quickly as we can with whatever we can,” said Whitby.
Thankfully, flood insurance will help cover some of the damage, but Zelda’s path forward won’t be easy. Its employees are out of work indefinitely. About half of Whitby’s kitchen staff works at both Zelda’s and nearby Margaritaville, also currently closed, and others work in construction. He has been able to hire some of them to do general cleanup, but doesn’t have enough long-term work. The Community Foundation Santa Cruz County is working to support the village employees who are out of work to try to retain workers for when the restaurants reopen.
The whole experience has been “stressful, heartbreaking and saddening,” said Whitby, but seeing how the Capitola community has come together is a bright spot in the storm. On the first Saturday after the surge, kitchen employees, servers, bussers and neighbors pulled out more than 120 yards of debris.
“Pizza My Heart has been sending pizza down from 41st [Avenue], Mijo’s Taqueria has been dropping off burritos ... everybody’s just taking care of everybody down here,” Whitby said. “Some random guy from Livermore showed up and just picked up a pair of gloves. He’d never even been to the village before. He just saw it on TV and wanted to help.”
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