The Ritz Again

By Jennifer Fumiko Cahill jennifer@northcoastjournal.com

The Ritz Building on Third and F streets in Eureka bears a plaque marking it — the former Ritz and Star Cigar Store — as a historic landmark. It’s a local Art Moderne icon from 1946, its smooth lines carved out seven years after its architectural cousin the Eureka Theater opened up the street. But even that wasn’t its original form, having already had its first life as a Victorian, complete with bay windows, built by James Simpson in 1885. Then it molted into a Woolworths Department Store in 1913 before getting the rounded and neon-lit Streamline treatment in 1947. Hell, not that long ago it was pink.

Over the decades since its 1978 restoration, the Ritz’s long, stately bar has been crowded and empty as servers shuttled a fusillade of fusion: fondue and hot pot; teppanyaki and sushi; French and Thai; pizza and potstickers. That its newest incarnation, helmed by Concha Alvarado, who co-owns the restaurant with her husband José Licona, should have a menu that unfolds into a triptych of burgers and sandwiches, Mexican dishes and Italian pastas, feels like tradition. And a relief from years of dark and papered-over windows.

“We came to see it and we fell in love with the bar,” says Alvarado. “And since we have a full liquor license, that’s why we decided to go ahead and rent this place.” Her hope is that the location — a prime Old Town spot across from the Carson Block Building — will be an improvement over Garberville, where she ran Calico’s Café for six years. “Garberville just got way too slow,” she says. “I just hope it’s a lot busier here.”

Chef Fernano Licona, Alvarado’s

brother-in-law, is still getting kitchen sta up to speed on the broad-ranging menu. The homemade pasta and sauces, Mexican items and burgers “all sold well” down south, says Alvarado, but it’s a lot of laborious cooking for one pair of hands. Eventually, when the Ritz has sta ed up a bit, she’ll start thinking about hosting entertainment.

After three months of planning the transition and no renovations required, Alvarado opened the doors Tuesday, Feb. 28, and customers waited in a queue on the sidewalk that had lately served as a street musician’s stage. Inside, patrons found the stained glass accents, full bar, nachos and wings, Caesar salads, enchiladas, teriyaki mushroom and Swiss cheese burgers, and Bolognese ladled over freshly made spaghetti.

The echo of the two dining rooms’ past lives is more or less invisible — whether the ghosts of Woolworths’ shoppers or fondue pots are with us or not. But even with a new menu in hand, there’s nostalgia in seeing your reflection in the iconic Streamline Moderne bar mirror with its etched lady perched atop a globe. Alvarado says even though the menu is essentially the same, she was fine letting go of the name Calico’s and changing the business to match the neon sign over the doorway generations of patrons have passed through for one nightspot or another. Everybody knows the Ritz. ●

Jennifer Fumiko Cahill (she/her) is the arts and features editor at the Journal Reach her at (707) 442-1400, extension 320, or jennifer@northcoastjournal.com. Follow her on Instagram @JFumikoCahill and on Mastodon @jenniferfumikocahill.

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