The Old Town Report for Feb. 11, 2016

By Pam Fitzpatrick

I think I need to temporarily rename this column “The Brown Paper Report.” There are at least five Old Town locations displaying plain brown paper in their beautiful windows instead of large signs that say “opening soon,” or “closed for remodeling,” or “coming soon.” Drives me crazy.

As far as I know, here is what is up: there are actually only three retail locations up for grabs (Jake’s Roadhouse already has claimed the Army/Navy space), and that is including the newly vacated 4th Dimension in the 300 block and the ever-vacant, but could-be-beautiful 316 building where the notorious scaffolding was forever (but is now gone), and what was briefly the Asian Art shop in the 500 block, west side, of Myrtle. There are five “brown paper” locations and two closed, but “almost open” locations.

First the brown paper ones: the Copper Still Grill (where Sam’s Deli used to be, east side of 600 block Myrtle) needs to pick up their approved permit from the city and get to work – it has been a long, long time we have had to look at that crumbling location; The Saltner on East Lemon is still working inside, hoping to open soon; Hummos & Pita on the north side of East Lemon (where Bull Taco/Devon used to be) says “soon … maybe March” for an opening date; Friends Café sold and the new owners are doing some repairs and furniture upgrades – they will re-open with a new name (Parchment) and a brand new coffee and other offerings, and Le Gourmand, one of my personal favorites, has closed for an estimated 30 days to reorganize and reopen with a new name (wish I knew what it was). The new owners of Friends, now Parchment have a coffee shop in South Pasadena which they call Kaldi and if you like the coffee there, you will be pleased with the switch in Old Town Monrovia.

As for the “open window” group, we have Bottega by Bella Sera washing their outside windows and getting ready to open, and Sow House with a small paper sign on the window that says they will reopen soon and have a grand reopening. The Sow House (as in farm to table, not pork house) originally opened in late November and had become very popular, so we are all hoping this short closure is just a small glitch and they will reopen very soon.

More news: Street Fair was very busy last week and should be again this coming Friday, Feb. 12 because of the upcoming Valentine’s Day celebrations. BMW of Monrovia has agreed to sponsor the “Wednesday’s in Old Town” music by “The Lance & Gary Show,” so we will have continuing mid-week music, and on Saturdays Green Leaf Events, our street fair contractor, is sponsoring music. The Old Town merchants are bringing back the Cinco de Mayo event in late April this year, and they will also be putting on the annual car show in September.

We are trying to build our social media awareness here in Old Town, so take a minute to “like” us on Facebook and check out our website at www.OldTownMonroviaCa.com. We like having friends.

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