At the gateway to Pacific Grove from Monterey, as well as to Cannery Row, near one of the busiest intersections on the Peninsula, stands an unintentional tourist destination.
The burned-out husk of the Carl’s Jr. building on the corner of Lighthouse and David avenues draws passersby with their phones out, snapping photos of the pile of rubble that neighbors the Pacific Grove Tourist Information Center and is a stone’s throw from the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
The building has remained that way since the morning of April 3, when a fire tore through the attic and eventually spread throughout, leaving it a complete loss. No injuries or damage to nearby buildings were reported.
Monterey’s Chief Building Official Lori Lynn Williamson says a few days after the fire, city officials had a team meeting with the owners of the building, Riverside-based DMF Restaurants LLC, and their contractor to outline the permitting process to clean up the property as well as to rebuild the restaurant.
There are no applications for demolition permits as of yet, according to Williamson.
Monterey Fire Division Chief Justin Cooper says insurance investigators are still combing the property to try to determine the cause of the fire, which remains unknown. Due to the severity of the damage, the cause may never be discovered, but Cooper says it doesn’t appear the fire was set intentionally.
The building underwent a major exterior renovation in 2024, after receiving approval from the city’s Architectural Review Committee in 2023. Employees were transferred to Carl’s Jr.’s Seaside location.