Breaking News: Pea Soup Andersen's abruptly closes in Buellton, California after 100 years

The property had been listed for sale years ago, and a report indicates a sale is pending, with redevelopment planned.

Hap-pea and Pea-wee, the beloved cartoon mascots, trying to split a pea with a mallet and chisel. (Rolando Pujol)

I was hopelessly smitten when I first visited Pea Soup Andersen’s in Buellton, California. The restaurant, founded by Anton and Juliette Andersen in 1924, was for 100 years a beloved part of the life and lore of the central California coast. 

Yes, was.

Today, Jan. 10, 2024, Pea Soup Andersen’s abruptly closed. 

I dreaded this moment. We all did, those who loved this place, even if we didn’t all hold the namesake pea soup in the highest esteem, even if 2 million bowls were ladled yearly, as the story went.

Andersen’s is such a comforting sight. (Rolando Pujol)

Because it was never really about the soup: It was about everything else about Andersen’s, this fantastically kitschy wonderous piece of roadside Americana.

KEYT quotes restaurant operator Milt Guggia Enterprises Inc. as saying the restaurant is “looking to redevelop and eventually reopen the site and will provide more details once a decision has been made.”

The Lompoc Record, talking to property administrator Krista Guggia, takes things one step further, saying a sale is in escrow and that great care was taken in selecting a buyer who respects the site’s history and its role in local and California culture.

However, and this is ominous, the Record writes:

Given that the condition of the century-old edifice makes it impossible to preserve, Guggia said the new buyer plans to tear it down and redevelop. 

"There will be a restaurant involved — whether it will be a Pea Soup Andersen's is yet to be determined," she said. "The new buyers are working closely with the City to make it something that's going to be a new, exciting, fresh thing for Buellton."

If it’s any comfort, officials in the planning department in Buellton, whose history is so closely tied to Andersen’s, appear to be just as mystified and told the Mercury News no paperwork has been filled for any construction on the site.

KEYT reports the story is the same at the Santa Barbara County Assessor's Office, which also said there was no filing about a change of ownership. No construction can happen without the appropriate paperwork. It would make sense that nothing has been filed if, as the Lompoc Record reports, a sale is not yet completed.

A few years back, the property was placed on the market for $4.7 million, and was billed as “prime for redevelopment.​” (Uh oh.)

But location, location, location, and Pea Soup Andersen’s is in a good spot -- right off the freeway and in central California wine country. But those headlines came and went, and Andersen’s, a whimsical taste of Denmark on the Pacific, remained, same as it ever was.

I’ve tucked my face into these holes during every visit! (Rolando Pujol)

For Californians, it’s a place you visited at least once, and even if you’d never set foot there, you passed it on the way to Solvang, the charming Danish village nearby, or you zoomed past the green billboards on The 101. 

It becomes a place you yearned for, a part of your childhood. There was comfort in knowing it was still there.

I loved the dining room, and the square counter. (Rolando Pujol)

The memory of visiting with my parents and sister back in September 2000 is part of the family lore, along with our stops at the Madonna Inn and Solvang.

There were several future visits to Pea Soup Andersen’s, most recently in 2021, in the photos shown here.

The second floor features a delightful historical exhibit. (Rolando Pujol)

I can’t accept there won’t be another one, though the Andersen’s inn next door, under separate ownership, remains open. A second location of Pea Soup Andersen’s, in Santa Nella and under Guggia ownership, is also still in business. I’ll have to visit that one, off Interstate 5, soon.

Right now, we don’t really know what’s next in Buellton, despite these reports. We just know it’s closed, but is it for good? Here’s hoping for good news.

Have you ever been to Pea Soup Andersen’s? Share your memories.

I’d like to visit again, guys. But will we be able to? (Rolando Pujol)