Guadalupe, Guadalupe, Guadalupe, what are we going to do with you?
After fits and starts, false starts, and no starts, the city’s calling it quits on the Royal Theater restoration project. I think anyone’s who’s been following my sarcastic commentary on the matter probably knows that should have happened a long time ago—maybe when the city mulled forcing through a ballot initiative to pay for the project’s funding gap or the Guadalupe’s multiple attempts at starting a capital campaign or when the city almost lost its grant funding due to deadlines not met or when the cost of construction overshot projections by millions of dollars.
Or, or, or: Take your pick.
City Administrator David Trujillo told the City Council on July 26 that if the city pushed forward with the project—which has already been under “construction” for almost nine months—it would be $2.6 million in the hole by the end of the fiscal year (next June).
It sounds like previous City Administrator Todd Bodem left Trujillo with a mess.
“If I were to tell you to continue construction, I would be doing a disservice to this community,” Trujillo told the council. “Until we have $13 million in the general fund, we cannot start this project. That’s where this project went wrong.”
The project went wrong in so many places, but financial ineptitude has plagued the theater restoration efforts since Day 1. Apparently, with a new staff in place, the city is starting to realize how inadequate its budget predictions have been over the last several years. Staff is “still looking into” where things went so wrong via audits going back to 2022.
Former Mayor Frances Romero told the council that it had “competent professional staff” for the first time in 12 years! Past staff, “apparently didn’t have any expertise at being able to balance a checkbook.” Ouch!
Councilmember Whitney Furness, ever the voice of admonishment and astonishment, asked that the council have a “lessons learned” discussion—aka, a come-to-Jesus meeting—“so we don’t run into this again.”
Where was Royal Theater Project Manager Tom Brandenberry during this discussion? Missing in action. Unfortunate.
I don’t know that Solvang’s recent decision not to allow a nightclub in its midst was unfortunate, but it does seem like a decision that an, ahem, older crowd would make.
I’m not sure the wannabe nightclub proprietor did himself any favors with his comments before the Planning Commission on Aug. 3: “People like going out late, [for] dancing and drinking,” Oligarlo Alvarez said. “By midnight, they’ll want to keep drinking and drinking.”
He’s not wrong, but that’s not exactly a selling point, you know?
A favorite Solvang developer (note the sarcasm) said if the city approved the project, he was gone.
“This town shuts down at 9 p.m., and as much as people like to complain about it, they actually love it,” Ed St. George, who sued the city recently, said. “I like new businesses. You know that. I like to see change. … This is not the right project.
A bar is just too much change. Solvang can’t be hip! The youth would be out and about, and we wouldn’t want that, would we?
The Canary would dance the night away in Solvang. Send songs to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in August 6 – August 13, 2026.
