Main Street is almost devoid of eating places, when in 1974 the Old Venice Noodle Co. opens. It is followed in 1976 by the Pioneer Boulangerie on a dreary strip of warehouses, auto garages, and shuttered businesses. The Pioneer Boulangerie closes in 1993 and is demolished in 2004 to make way for the Avalon Apartments.
The Garacochea family runs the Pioneer French Bakery on Rose Ave in Venice. After visiting his grandfather’s Basque Country in 1973, Jack Garacochea comes back fired up with the idea of a European eatery - with the family’s Basque heritage a focal point.
Jack and his brother, Jay Garacochea, acquire the whole Main St block from Bay to Bicknell.1 The 1923 Japs Dudley building (now a wholesale grocery and meat packing warehouse) is redone in chateau-type architecture with timber accents and a faux dormer roof.
The interior is decorated with folkloric Basque art. The staff is dressed in Basque finery of lace-trimmed blouses, red skirts with aprons, and white head scarves for the women and berets for the men.
The family-owned Pioneer Boulangerie offers an array of gourmet eateries under one roof - a full-service bakery, a patio-style cafeteria, a bistro dining room, a deli, an espresso bar, and a wine and cheese shop.
Pioneer Boulangerie opens on Super Bowl Sunday, January 18, 1976. When the doors open at 11 am, the line is around the block.
The operation develops a loyal clientele, which is crushed when in 1993, after 17 years on Main Street, Pioneer Boulangerie closes its doors for good,2 the victim of a variety of economic3 and social4 forces. The building remains vacant until it is demolished in 20045 to make way for the Avalon Santa Monica On Main.
Pioneer Boulangerie is big enough that you enter from a parking lot in the rear rather than from Main St. A narrow strip of adjacent City-owned property along the east side of Neilson is also leased for parking.
The bakery briefly lives on through a small outlet (Cafe Boulangerie) serving fresh bread, pastries, and coffee at 804 Montana Ave at Lincoln Blvd, where it shares space with a Panda Inn.
In 1993, Main Street is losing business to Santa Monica’s new Third Street Promenade. The Oar House, another old-time Santa Monica venue, also closes. New seismic codes require earthquake retrofitting - a cost hard to swallow for a money-losing business.
Pioneer Boulangerie faces an influx of “indigents” who hang around the restaurant. A security guard is hired, at the loss of the European village-like ambience.
The whole block, mixed-use redevelopment project is very controversial and takes 6 years to work through the City approval process. The Avalon Apartments obtains a Certificate of Occupancy in 2007.