Originally published at: Have we lost the Buellton, California "Pea Soup Andersen's" restaurant for good? - Boing Boing
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Was sad to hear about this today.
When we were kids, we made a Disneyland trip a few times from the Bay Area and at some point either coming or going would stop for pea soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.
A couple years ago when my wife and I did a CA roadtrip 'round the state, we stopped for pea soup and grilled cheese. I’m fairly certain that was the first time I’d been there since maybe 1978 or something.
It was honestly a really fun highlight to our week.
Edit - found my pic of the bowl I finished.
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Sad but not surprising. I was there maybe a year ago and it definitely had an “inexplicably still hanging on” vibe. Admittedly, I hadn’t been there in twenty years before that, and it looked like not many others had either. I’ll be pouring out some soup for Hap and Wee tonight.
This is as close as we got to a Precious Family Memory:
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I’m surprised nobody’s beaten me to this one: 
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Wow, it opened in 1924, so this was going to be it’s centennial. That’s sad. I’ve never been there, and I hate pea soup, but that’s a shame.
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Sorry to hear that. I’d also stop there once in a while on road trips to the Bay Areas. It was a charming vestige of pre-war California commercialism and I loved the mascots.
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I ate lunch there last month, and now I am glad of that. I was not the only one in the restaurant, but I was the only one in that section of the restaurant. It was clear the place was needing and not getting a big investment and lots of love.
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I’ve read that the inn is also closed. I’ve read its been sold and will be demolished. I’ve read that it will be updated, redone, and eventually reopened. So it is really hard to figure out what is going on.
I will say this…I first visited on a family vacation when I was 10-12 years old in the 1980s. I last visited in 2019 before the pandemic. Both the inside and outside of the restaurant looked EXACTLY the same almost 40 years apart. So at the very least if it is being remodeled and reopened, it is ABOUT TIME!
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Oh no, We used to visit them on our way back from cons in the Bay Area. We would be heading to Further Confusion and probably trying to go to Anderson’s if it wasn’t for my partner being in the hospital.
2024 is kicking me in the balls so far.
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I never stopped there, but I’m sure familiar with the signs up and down the state. Coulda swore I would see them on I-5 too, not just 101. Hmm.
(Note the omission of the ‘the’ above; that’s NorCal talk. But since Buellton is below the 35.28th parallel, I guess the ‘the’ is legit.)
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The Santa Nella location is on the I-5. Just ate there a couple weeks ago.
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That place was featured on a PBS documentary about great roadside restaurants.
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The Five. Please.
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It goes by “Johnny Five” now.
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