Half-Baked

HALF-BAKED… Every now and then on Squid’s morning swims, Squid pops Squid’s head above the water along Monterey’s waterfront to check in on the derelict property at 484 Cannery Row, which still sits vacant despite at least 30 years of effort trying to develop it.

The process has seen multiple lawsuits and continued resistance by the California Coastal Commission, but developer Bob Faulis, who’s been trying to push the project forward for the past seven years, believes the remaining issues with the agency will be settled come summer. Meanwhile, Faulis is hoping to make the property an asset, not an eyesore, while the litigation settles and funds are sought to build. To that end, he’s hoping to launch a flame-cooked pizza business on the property – not a brick-and-mortar joint, just an oven trailer and a wooden platform on the property with tables and chairs to sit. He’s even got a website – getfiredup.co – that claims the joint will be open in March 2025, despite most of the words on the site being written in Greek (as a placeholder). It promises “exceptional flavors” and 50-percent off of “Nulla fermentum lorem non magna accumsan.” And the pictures of food are mostly… not pizza.

So Squid’s colleague caught up with Faulis to see what’s what. He says he hasn’t yet approached the city or the Coastal Commission with the project, but maintains the pies will be slinging by June.

Good thing for Squid – being a cephalopod and all – is Squid won’t have to hold Squid’s breath.

PLAY ON WORK… Even though cephalopods have no need for public parks – there are no fences in the sea – Squid can appreciate why they’re important to humans.

So Squid always gets excited when new parks and trails get built. That’s why Squid’s long been a backer of the Fort Ord Regional Trail and Greenway, aka FORTAG, the first segment of which is now being built in Del Rey Oaks. And part of that segment cuts through Work Memorial Park, a slice of land behind the Safeway that stretches all the way to Rosita Road that was given to the city in 1953 by developer T.A. Work to be used as a park or for some other public benefit. Yet the land sat unused, except to be partially leased for a time to a driving range and now, to a landscaping business.

It turns out the park is far bigger than Squid had known. Starting in mid-September, Cal Fire crews cleared over 20 acres of overgrown vegetation on the southern hillside of the park, stretching all the way to Monterey Regional Airport’s property.

It’s like a whole new park opened up that residents didn’t even know they had. Now it just needs some trails and TLC. Hopefully this time around, it won’t take more than 70 years to get started.