Goodbye, East Beach Grill

Francisco Aguilera was 14 years old when he set off from Durango, Mexico, eventually ending up in Santa Barbara, where he took a job as a dishwasher at the East Beach Grill.

For the next 33 years, Aguilera worked at the seaside restaurant on the first floor of the Cabrillo Pavilion Bathhouse, graduating to cook and manager, and finally to owner and leaseholder. He still arrives every morning at the crack of dawn to open the doors by 6 a.m. He has never missed a day. Over the decades he has gotten to know his regular customers and their kids who’d skip straight from the ocean to his counter, asking for ice cream. Now grown, those kids bring their own children and grandchildren to the restaurant, one of the last places in Santa Barbara with $5 hamburgers and a bathing-suit-welcome dress code.

Last Thursday, sitting in his tiny office perched above the Great Pacific Ice Cream Company that he owns next to Char West, which he also owns, Aguilera looked out toward the East Beach Grill a mile down the coast. “It breaks my heart,” he said. In December his lease ends, and the city will close the public bathhouse building for a massive $15 million renovation of its upstairs event space, offices, gym, and restaurant. Aguilera had hoped to reopen his grill when the work was completed, but lease negotiations with the city failed. “I did my best,” he said, throwing up his hands. “But I’m out.”