Tola Lola Blog: March 2023

In 1913, a surging ocean full of debris swept across the beach, into the village and up Capitola Avenue. “Huge waves smashed against the wharf, taking out a 200-foot section,” Osterberg said. A fisherman named Alberto Gibelli, who had gone out to the end of the wharf to secure his boats and equipment, was left stranded until a rescue boat arrived and a rope and life preserver were tossed. Gibelli “tied the rope under his arms and leapt into the ocean and he was pulled to safety,” Osterberg said.

That storm destroyed a section of the wharf in the same area as the portion washed away recently. According to the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, during episodes of very high surf, a sandbar develops near the Capitola Wharf in roughly the same spot. “This influences where waves will crest and unleash their force,” the museum tweeted , with photos of the damage in 1913 and 2023. “Hence, history repeating itself.”

Thirteen years later, Mother Nature struck again, with the same kind of double-whammy delivered to Capitola last week: giant waves on top of a high tide. Again, the village was flooded as far as Capitola Avenue, a block from the ocean. And as occurred last week, the Venetian apartments — the picturesque row of habitations starring today in many a social media post — suffered damage. So high were the waves that they slammed into the Hotel Capitola’s second floor. A bathhouse and boathouse with distinctive arches in its beachfront facade made it through, but its wooden dressing rooms were splintered apart.

**Storm hitting Capitola in 1926 with waves surging into the bathhouse/boathouse (courtesy of Capitola Historical Museum)**

A man paddles a canoe through a flooded Capitola Village a half-block from the beach after a 1926 storm. (courtesy of Capitola Historical Museum -- Macdonald Collection) — A person paddles a canoe through a flooded Capitola Village a half-block from the beach after a 1926 storm. (courtesy of Capitola Historical Museum — Macdonald Collection)

Today, roughly the same distance from the ocean where a person was photographed paddling a canoe in the village after that 1926 storm, is El Toro Bravo restaurant, serving Mexican food at a low point in the village — for 55 years. The January 2023 storm sent seawater surging all the way to the back of the restaurant, said Hillary Guzman, granddaughter of founder Delia Ray. The establishment has seen multiple floods, but the ocean hadn’t gotten so far back inside during previous events, Guzman said.

In 1931, another major tide-and-storm combo hit, trashing vacation cabins and wiping out a newly built miniature-golf course on the waterfront esplanade.

Four years later, during another cataclysm, the ocean washed a playground off the Capitola waterfront. A historical photo shows that beside the former playground site, a wooden platform held up several beachfront businesses. Osterberg believes that platform, built in the 1920s, is the same structure that currently supports the restaurants badly damaged in last week’s storm, including Zelda’s, The Sand Bar and Paradise Beach Grill. Last week, Capitola city manager Jamie Goldstein said an engineering assessment determined that the wooden platform, which sits on pilings above the sand and water, was “structurally safe” for crews to start fixing the buildings, but would require expensive repairs. Also last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom stood on an undamaged portion of the platform and told news media the state was not “walking away” from the damage to Capitola, but he declined to specify what assistance might be forthcoming.

A playground was washed off the Capitola waterfront in a 1931 storm, revealing a wooden platform built in the 1920's holding up oceanside businesses. The platform is believed to be the same structure that holds several Capitola Village restaurants over the water and was significantly damaged in the Jan. 5, 2023 storm. (courtesy of Capitola Historical Museum) — A g aplayground was washed off the Capitola waterfront in a 1931 storm, revealin wooden platform built in the 1920’s holding up oceanside businesses. The platform is believed to be the same structure that holds several Capitola Village restaurants over the water and was significantly damaged in the Jan. 5, 2023 storm. (courtesy of Capitola Historical Museum)

Waves hit a cafe and apartments on the Capitola waterfront during a storm believed by the Capitola Historical Museum to have struck in 1983. By the time a storm hit Capitola Village on Jan. 5, 2023, the cafe site had become Capitola Bar & Grill, several apartments remained as apartments, and some had become Margaritaville. (courtesy of Capitola Historical Museum)

A man walks through floodwaters amid severe damage to Capitola Village from a 1983 storm (courtesy of Capitola Historical Museum -- Dennis Noonan photo) — **A man walks through floodwaters amid severe damage to Capitola Village from a 1983 storm (courtesy of Capitola Historical Museum — Dennis Noonan photo)**

Hotel Capitola, completed in 1895, gets slammed by a wave in a 1926 storm. The 160-room resort structure burned to the ground three years later. (courtesy of Capitola Historical Museum)

The Venetian apartments got slammed again in 1937.

In 1958, storm-driven seawater hit the esplanade so forcefully that it knocked the horses off a merry-go-round.

Then 25 years later, the wharf took major blows from a series of storms that broke 35 feet off its end and destroyed a 30-foot section.

Newsom and Capitola officials said last week it was too early to tally the financial damage from the recent storm. The city lifted no-entry orders for the three waterfront restaurants most severely damaged, and restaurant owners now have crews working to rebuild. Josh Whitby, co-owner of Zelda’s, has removed the seawater, kelp and broken trees that filled his dining room after waves pushed a large beam from the wharf through the waterfront windows and wall. The beam, however, remains. “It’s probably going to end up as part of our decor,” Whitby said.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, right, surveys storm damage with Capitola city manager Jamie Goldstein inside Zelda’s restaurant in Capitola, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)