It came as quite a shock to me when I was at the art show of Don Porcella and finding out, that Lemon Grove lost an icon in the Grove Pastry Shop.
It closed its doors suddenly, with its lease ending at the end of the year, and the buildings tenants raising the rental of the space up to $12,000 a year. An overwhelming jump in overhead that Grove Pastry Shop owner Teresa Johnson could not live with.
It came as quite a shock to me when I was at the art show of Don Porcella and finding out, that Lemon Grove lost an icon in the Grove Pastry Shop.
It closed its doors suddenly, with its lease ending at the end of the year, and the buildings tenants raising the rental of the space up to $12,000 a year. An overwhelming jump in overhead that Grove Pastry Shop owner Teresa Johnson could not live with.
So this 66-year piece of history is now a vacant building, leaving Johnson without a business to work in and many employees out of work.
For the time being.
We also have to remember that this is the home of the Lemon Grove history Mural by local artists Katy Strzelecki and Janne LaValle. Ten years in the making, the last panel of the mural was placed in 2013. This wondrous piece of art is an amazing testament to the history of Lemon Grove. Helen Ofield, Lemon Grove Historical Society president is crushed over the closure of the Grove Pastry, as well as concerned over the future of this monumental mural, that earned the Governor’s Historic Preservation Award in 2014.
Ofield said she took the time to speak with the owners, pleading them to preserve both the Grove Pastry and the future of the mural, but to no avail, and no resolve for the future.
This is nothing short of disturbing, and the greed displayed by the owners of the building is unforgivable. The building’s mission style setting is as historic as the Grove Pastry and the mural that was an asset to the historical values of Lemon Grove.
Someone needs to get this building out of the hands of the current owners, and into the hands of someone who understands the importance of such a historical setting in the heart of Lemon Grove. It is one thing to go out of business do to lack of business, but to be thrown out over an unsolicited and unfounded amount of money is a tragedy for the Lemon Grove community and beyond.
