{"id":10851,"date":"2023-01-26T14:40:10","date_gmt":"2023-01-26T22:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sanpedrotoday.com\/?p=10851"},"modified":"2023-01-27T16:16:58","modified_gmt":"2023-01-28T00:16:58","slug":"utros-dies-hard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanpedrotoday.com\/2023\/01\/26\/utros-dies-hard\/","title":{"rendered":"Utro’s Dies Hard"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joe Utovac sits on a large chair inside the dining room at Utro\u2019s Caf\u00e9, holding his cane in one hand and gesturing towards the walls of his recently closed restaurant with the other.<\/strong><\/span> Once adorned with hundreds of pieces of San Pedro memorabilia, the walls now have blank spots made by patrons taking a piece of the caf\u00e9 home in remembrance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a story behind every piece of memorabilia here,\u201d says the elder Utovac, 75, pointing with his cane to a wall filled with vintage photographs, trophies, nautical signage, and the famous Utro\u2019s Caf\u00e9 caricatures by late local artists (and brothers) Bob and Pete Bentovoja.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Joe and his daughter Nicole Utovac. (photo: John Mattera Photography)<\/p><\/div>\n

The memorabilia on the walls told the story of arguably San Pedro\u2019s proudest generation, the \u201cborn and raised\u201d baby boomers who came of age going to the original Utro\u2019s Crest Caf\u00e9 on 22nd Street in the \u201870s and following it to the harbor at Berth 73 in the \u201890s.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Utovac even declared as much with the caf\u00e9\u2019s original awning, which read \u201cHome of the Proudest People on the Coast.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the restaurant stopped serving Devine Burgers and beer on December 30, and with some time left on its lease, the caf\u00e9 has become a makeshift antique shop until February 4, when its lease is officially up.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Joe, the burly and lively retired crane operator, holds court while his wife Cheryl and daughter Nicole help navigate the revolving door of past and present customers stopping by to pay their respects and maybe purchase a one-of-a-kind memento off the wall.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis wasn\u2019t how we wanted things to end,\u201d admits Nicole, 44, who\u2019s worked in the restaurant her entire adult life. \u201cIf I had known last year was going to be our last summer here, we would\u2019ve done things differently.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sudden closure of Utro\u2019s Caf\u00e9, a San Pedro institution since 1976, came as a bit of a surprise to the Utovac family. The way Joe explains it, the restaurant had been on a month-to-month lease \u201cfor a while\u201d and was aware changes were coming but admits he didn\u2019t know when. He also knew that the caf\u00e9\u2019s current building, built in the 1930s and part of the West Harbor project, needed several critical repairs that, if done, would require the restaurant to be closed for an extended amount of time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Also, had they come back after the repairs and become part of West Harbor, their rent would\u2019ve quintupled from the significantly below-market rate they were paying.<\/p>\n

So, the writing was on the wall that the caf\u00e9\u2019s time had come. Still, receiving a two-week termination notice after being a tenant for 28 years (at the Berth 73 location) was a tough pill to swallow.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wish we had one more summer to do it right,\u201d says Nicole.<\/p>\n