Iconic Big Sur Bakery restaurant burns down in a kitchen fire.

Big Sur Fire Chief Matt Harris was sitting in the station and smelled the smoke even before a call came in reporting a structure fire. He and a colleague saw a black plume of smoke and quickly started suiting up.

A call came in at 3:50pm on Friday, May 3 reporting the Big Sur Bakery, a beloved Highway 1 gathering place, coffee stop and restaurant, was burning. Within five minutes, the two Big Sur Fire firefighters arrived from their headquarters on Post Ranch, located just behind the bakery. 

The response was fast, but so was the fire. "It was pretty well involved by that time," Harris says.

The fire threatened the Loma Vista Gardens as well as homes located above the bakery, but firefighters were able to contain it to the bakery building and a shed located behind the restaurant. The outline of the structure remains standing, but barely.

"The damage is severe damage," Harris says. Firefighters on scene were able to salvage some business records but almost everything inside was destroyed, including furniture, artwork and a wine collection. 

The original Loma Vista property was established starting in the early 20th century by John Pfeiffer, whose family developed Pfeiffer's Ranch Resort in 1908, which later became Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. Pfeiffer "was a quiet, introspective man and a master beekeeper who like to spend time by himself with his bee hives," according to a Loma Vista Gardens history. "No doubt, he built the 'Loma Vista' so he could get away from all the activity in and around his home," where a resort was operating.

After Highway 1 was built in the 1930s, Loma Vista grew into an inn and housed Big Sur's first gas station. The building that became Big Sur Bakery was built nearly a century ago as an inn and diner as part of the Loma Vista expansion, on the lower part of Post Ranch (now a separate, established hotel project next door).

On May 3, firefighters also immediately addressed concerns about the proximity to a gas station located between the bakery and Highway 1, but were able to park their engine between the gas station and the restaurant building as an added layer of protection. "Our first order of business was to prevent it from spreading to other structures," Harris says.

The other businesses on the property—Big Sur Shell station, Mother Botanical, Loma Art Studio and Gallery, and the event space Loma Vista Gardens—were unharmed.

Responding agencies included an AMR ambulance (dispatched to all structure fires), U.S. Forest Service, State Parks and California Highway Patrol; the two Big Sur Fire firefighters were eventually joined by 10 other volunteers from Big Sur Fire. 

Even though most first responders on scene were not firefighters, Harris says he gave everyone a job, helping to stretch hose around narrow stairways. They hooked up to a hydrant right out front. "I put everybody to work," he says. "They helped get hose stretched out, so when I charged with water we could go right to work."

The fire began in the kitchen. The business was not open at the time and nobody—civilians nor firefighters—was injured.

The Bakery had been closed to the public since Highway 1 access to the public closed on March 30 due to a slip-out. Limited work continued with recipe development and some small catering jobs, says owner Mike Gilson. The plan was to reopen on Memorial Day weekend, when Caltrans expects to have a traffic signal installed at the highway closure point to the north, enabling 24/7 access, bringing all of the business' roughly 15 employees back to work.

"My biggest concern right now is finding a way to support my employees," Gilson says. 

"No one was hurt, and the fire did not spread. Honestly, I am just so relieved by those two things," Gilson adds. 

Big Sur Fire is investigating the cause of the blaze and officials will interview the one witness on scene in the kitchen at the time. 

"It’s a devastating loss to the community," Harris says. "The business community has already been significantly hit this year. It’s an above-and-beyond blow to the community. It's an iconic business."

The iconic business has for years been a gathering place for locals and visitors to buy indulgent pastries and coffee drinks to enjoy on the rustic deck, or weekend brunch. In the evenings, the restaurant has offered more elevated yet accessible fare, emphasizing local, seasonal ingredients—and the bakery's famous bread. (The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook, published in 2009, captured the ethos and philosophy behind the menu.) 

The Big Sur business community has been hit by a series of events, including Covid-related closures that impacted restaurants everywhere. But beyond that, slides and road closures have impacted Big Sur businesses intermittently for years, including a slip-out this spring to the north, effectively cutting off access to Big Sur businesses since March 30; public access in controlled convoys at 7am and 5pm daily resumed on Monday, April 29. (Access to and from Big Sur via Highway 1 on the south has been continuously closed to the public since January 2023.

Without ready highway access to Big Sur for mutual aid agencies to the area, it leaves Big Sur Fire with added responsibility. The nonprofit is celebrating its 50th year this year and proceeded with a community open house event as planned for International Firefighters Day on Saturday, May 4, the day after the Big Sur Bakery blaze. "It just goes to show how important it is that we are around," Harris adds.

Gilson emphasizes his appreciation for Big Sur Fire and its fast response. "Big Sur Fire showed up so quickly and took care of business so professionally," he said. "The Big Sur Fire [volunteers] are heroes."

As to what comes next for the Bakery, Gilson says it's too soon to know as he continues to assess the situation, and sort out what the insurance claim process will entail.

"It’s early days right now, and time will tell," he says.