Lazio’s Last Stand
Eureka’s waterfront started dying in 1968, and there’s no good news on the horizon
(July 24, 2008) The year was 1968. The place was Eureka, Calif. Down near the waterfront on C Street, the finest fish cuisine and the most popular joint in town sat on the right on the pier, overlooking the bay full of sailboats and the skeleton of the nearly built Samoa Bridge. At the renowned Lazio’s Seafood Restaurant, locals and tourists sat at their tables as they ate seafood dinners and watched women in the kitchen working away behind plate glass windows. The smell of filleted fish wafted through the room, cut through the ominous buzz of conversation. People lined up out the door, halfway down the block just to eat there. This was the place to be. This was a bustling hometown business, the heart and soul of Old Town Eureka.
Go down to First Street today, and the waterfront is not exactly the most hopping place to be. Now it’s 2008, 40 years later. Many of the fishermen and loggers are long gone. Lazio’s Seafood Restaurant is long gone. There’s a six-year old boardwalk along the edge of the water that was christened in 2002, but not joined with any businesses until very recently. There are new vacant condos, and more than a couple vacant weed-infested lots. As it is now, our waterfront is not exactly what you would call the Santa Cruz Boardwalk or Monterey Bay.
The idea of waterfront development in Eureka is not new. On Aug. 6, 1971, a story was published in the Times-Standard with this headline: “Eureka’s New Waterfront Plan: Boat Basin, F St. Mall, Boardwalk.” Sound familiar?
Now it’s 26 years later, and “Eureka’s new waterfront plans” are finally manifesting themselves, painstakingly, piece by piece. Everyone — big names, small names and everyone in between — all have their ideas of what should go down on the waterfront. Condos. Parks. Home Depots and such. But developers say it’s not as simple as you think to just slap up a building, especially on prime, expensive property such as the Eureka waterfront.
^^^^^
Rewind time four decades. Lawrence Lazio was a pioneer, and a keen businessman in his day. Lazio was the first private property owner to try to put up a new enterprise right on the waterfront, when he tried to build Lazio’s No. 2. He ultimately failed. It’s one of the epic stories of his life.
In the ’60s, Lawrence Lazio was but a young buck. He was feeling pretty good about himself when he took over management responsibilities of the empire that his father, the late Tom Lazio, built from nothing. At only 20-something, Lawrence Lazio was a powerful man, a man of caliber and importance. He managed the family business and oversaw 350 employees — basically ran the whole joint. In his spare time he attended what was then Humboldt College, eventually getting a degree in marketing. When he was one credit short of getting his diploma and was too busy with work to finish his college classes, the president of the college told him that it was all right, he’d give him his degree anyway. He had an important job to do, and that was to run Lazio’s.
Business was booming at Lazio’s Restaurant in the otherwise dead business district. Back then, there were no other restaurants down there. Lazio was swimming in customers. In order to serve the increasingly popular spot, Lazio thought he’d build a new restaurant to serve his clientele, tear the old one down and start new. Do it up big.
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on the cover
Railroad!
Proposed lines ‘set rich blood a-tingling’ in early 1900s
Some Other Proposed North Coast Railroads
Choo-choo Fantasies
Exposing this east-west rail nonsense
seven-o-heaven
Undeterred Will
Will chides Andrew for lack of attention to detail and makes plans for his inevitable victory.
Recent on the cover
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Sun and moon will perform a rare pas de deux in Humboldt skies on Sunday
May 10
District Soup
Racing for the top county seat in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd districts
May 3
A Place in the Woods
As park closure deadline nears, a scramble to save what we can
Today
Celebrating Life in Humboldt
lecture / 7 p.m. Garberville Presbyterian Church, 437 Maple Lane. Local author/historian Jerry Rohde continues his series of regional history talks. This week: Garberville. 441-2700.
Mechanical Menagerie
events / 8:30 p.m. Redwood Raks World Dance Studio, 824 L St., Arcata. Whimsical all-ages animal-themed benefit for Nighshade Serenade. Music by Gunsafe, fire show, animal hijinx by Blue Angel Burlesque, bellydancing and silent auction. $10. E-mail megjclarke@hotmail.com. 832-8973.
NightHawk (classic rock)
music / 9 p.m. Cher-Ae-Heights Casino, 27 Scenic Dr., Trinidad.
Jim Wilde (jazz)
music / 7 p.m. Persimmons Garden Gallery, 1055 Redway Drive, Redway. 923-2748.
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SIX Comments
Comment / By grannyj / July 24, 2008, 7:41 p.m.
This story is so sad it almost makes me cry. I used to LOVE to go to Lazio’s. The food was so wonderful and the ambiance was so great. I loved to watch the Pelicans and seals while I was eating. when Mayor Fleming was in office, I had such high hopes for a vibrant waterfront, but even hopes were dashed to the ground. The stumbling block seems to be the City of Eureka. We speak of it like it’s an entity that cannot be overcome. The city government is made up of people who work for the City. The governing bodies work “at the pleasure of the Eureka citizens”. How can a government be so “locked up” nothing gets done? It seems to me that if those specific people in the government that are hindering the future of Eureka were brought to light (so they could be voted out, or fired), then maybe the city would grow. I have a few people in mind who have a choke hold on that town. I will say no more, but there must be a way to remove their vice- grip and give it back to the people who want prosperity and growth for Eureka and not stagnation and iron-fist control.
Comment / By hbrown / July 30, 2008, 12:51 p.m.
It is all getting hazy now, but I thought I remembered Lazio opening a new place on 2nd or 3rd street perhaps in the 80’s. I used to come up there a lot until gas prices rose to a consistant level of 25-30 cents above Willits!
Comment / By narration / July 30, 2008, 12:55 p.m.
Grannyj, it certainly was wonderful. From a childhood after the war, to go down to the waterfront, walk with a father among the boats. Watch the crabs coming onto the steaming pots at the dockside; see the women doing the ‘picking’ to get the fresh crabmeat.
It wasn’t easy work or without injury, any more than that of the fishermen. We really appreciated the delicious crab as a very special treat to take home.
Years later the restaurant was a place to bring someone, with the real persons all around, the people who made livings in the woods and with boats.
We’ve forgotten a lot, in all our modernizing, our efficiency, and our ways of thinking about work. One doesn’t look backwards except in appreciation, but look forwards we must.
Change must come again, and this time to build again what are real lives, not waiting for what’s next on television.
Well, television was new then too, and had its wonderful experiments. Some amount of the drama was real.
That’s the taste we need, and it will be as welcome as Tom Lazio’s food when it arrives.
And yes, we can do this. Takes a bit of real imagination, like Eureka’s real pioneers.
Hope you find a place to be reminded, grannyj.
There used to be a little and nice seafood restaurant down in the lower part of Trinidad. I bet it’s still there, and may still have some of the old family people as it did. Very good seafood to boot.
I hope you find it and enjoy. A walk around that village, the beach, and up the hill too.
Regards, Narration
p.s. I hope North Coast Journal will fix this commenting, so that there are spaces between paragraphs. A very easy fix for your web provider to do, and hope mentioning it helps you both.
Comment / By narration / July 30, 2008, 12:57 p.m.
Well, it’s actually the preview for the comments that’s not showing spaces, or like the result will turn out. Should be pretty easy to fix too - and thanks!
N.
Comment / By Hank Sims / July 31, 2008, 5:53 p.m.
Narration:
Yes, it’s on the to-do list, believe me. Thanks for your patience.
Hank Sims
Comment / By Cal Arbogast / Jan. 8, 3:21 p.m.
I remember Lazio’s very well.
I worked in Willits in the early 70’s and again in the early 80’s. My family was in Oregon so I traveled back and forth quite often.
Every time I went through Eureka, if the time was right I stopped and had dinner at Lazio’s.
My favorite dish was a seafood casserole. I had such a hunger for that casserole on Monday night that I mentioned to my wife that we should try to get that recipe. She said Google it and so I did.
I knew the restaurant had burned down and is no longer at the foot of “C” street, because I looked for it the few times that I passed through. But I was not aware of the terrible dis-service that the City of Eureka had done to Mr.Lazio.
When will our government bodies both large and small realize that it is not the governments that built this great country and it’s economy. It was the people like Tom & Larry Lazio, despite the arrogance of a growing government, that thinks it should control each and every step of our progress.
For Larry’s and my childrens sake, I hope our governments will again let us utilize our dreams to enterprise and freedom.
PS; If Larry reads this comment, I am still dying to taste that cassarole again. I would like to taste it in Lazio’s restraunt, but if not there, maybe he would share it with me. It would go no further, except with a few close friend whom with I could share the delicacy and the story.