Beloved California road trip landmark to be demolished, memorialized with a plaque
Pea Soup Andersen’s, once serving millions of bowls a year, is on track to be demolished as officials debate how to “honor” it without actually saving any of it.
Pea Soup Andersen’s closed suddenly in January 2024, just months shy of its 100th anniversary. Its immediate and long-term future remained in doubt in the months to follow. That September, SFGATE reported that Pea Soup Andersen’s restaurant and lounge, as well as the adjoining parking lot, had been purchased by a company called SBID LLC c/o Ed St. George for $4.95 million.
St. George, a landlord and developer, is a well-known and polarizing figure throughout the region. He owns St. George and Associates, a mega-renter to college students in Santa Barbara and Isla Vista. The Yelp page for his property management company has only 1.5 stars. St. George and his family relocated to the Santa Ynez Valley in 2021, and since then, he’s become involved in several high-profile development projects.
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Instead, he suggested another plan: “some kind of plaque” to memorialize Pea Soup Andersen’s, rather than “waste a bunch of money trying to save a piece of it.”
Pea Soup Andersen’s was a stop for me on many motorcycle and other road trips along the California coast. From family road trips as a child, to dining there with my own child. Pea Soup Andersen’s in Buellton is missed.