Fill ’er up! Food joins fuel at proposed ‘Broadway Hardware’ eatery

You can buy cold beer, novelty snacks, LPs and even regular unleaded at Jack’s Filling Station, the old Signal/76 gas station on Broadway at West MacArthur. Soon, you may be able to get a roast chicken or pizza, fried artichokes and a micro-brewed beer as well – at least that’s the plan the city’s Design Review and Historic Preservation Commission (DRHPC) heard at its June 15 meeting.

Sonoma architect Bennett Martin presented plans for the remodeled gas station owned by Erika and Chad Harris - owners of the former Fremont Diner, now Lou’s Luncheonette in Schellville - to the committee. The Harrises purchased the location in 2017, helping revitalize a portion of the former Sonoma Truck & Auto property at that intersection, though the dilapidated main showroom and garage on the east side of Broadway remains in cluttered limbo.

The Harrises initially planned to open a 28-seat restaurant at that .56-acre location, which would have entailed removing the gas station altogether, but the proposal did not earn a recommendation from the city’s Design Review and Historic Preservation Commission, and their initial efforts to start work ran into complications from the city planning department.

As an interim solution they upgraded and revitalized the building, built in a classic “white box” style in 1961, working with Martin and his Strata firm colleague Brad Johnson to create the funky one-of-a-kind retro gas station and novelty shop.

Now the Harrises are back to their original playbook, which called for a “nanobrewery” at the restaurant site ‒ a Type 75 license from the ABC that authorizes the sale of beer, wine, and distilled spirits for on-site consumption at a bona fide eating place. Accepting the limitations of space, and the popularity of Jack’s, they decided instead to propose operating a limited kitchen, paired with a food-truck café (“Little Lou’s”) but keep the micro-brewery in the plans.

“As Sonoma residents with three children, we have found that there is a lack of affordable, family oriented, casual, non-chain restaurants on this side of town,” said Erika Harris in the project narrative presented to the commission. “There are very few restaurants south of the square and we feel that the neighborhoods of MacArthur East and West, would appreciate a restaurant that is both within walking distance, and is a good option for your families and seniors.”

Those are similar to the reasons Harris gave in 2017, when she and her husband Chad purchased the property when they were still running their Fremont Diner in Schellville.

The first phase in the project will be moving the food truck to the property, behind the gas station, where it will serve coffee and cold drinks, breakfast tacos and a lunch menu from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. The truck currently has a temporary permit and could move to its intended location as early as this summer.

But the main feature of the project will be called Broadway Hardware, a new “small, quick service restaurant,” as the application describes it. It would include indoor seating for only 12, but room for up to 60 seats outdoors in patios and an outdoor canopy area located on MacArthur behind the gas station. The 23.5-foot-tall building, about 125 feet long by 30 feet wide, will have painted corrugated metal siding and roofing material, simply-framed windows, and the “restored vintage sign” of the original Broadway Hardware. (Long closed, Broadway Hardware was located a couple blocks south, where Blazing Saddles and Cafe Mac now stand.)

The menu as presented at the design review meeting would be limited – “snacks” such as salads, fried artichokes, soup of the day, arancini and a sausage & peppers dish; and a very limited selection of “mains” – only baked pasta, roast chicken and pizza.

There will also be a 2-bedroom, 835-square-foot apartment on the half-acre property, an echo of the Harrises’ original plan for two such apartments.

The old service garage on the property would be demolished and parking for the restaurant would be provided. Bike parking is also in the plans. New landscaping will be water-efficient bushes, cactus and trees.

Though the review committee was impressed by the plans, according to Sonoma’s associate planner Kristina Tierney, they did find some issues with code compliance over the aggregate sign area and rear setbacks. “There was no recommendation for approval of the design review and so this might go to the planning commission in August,” said Tierney, though the exact steps and timeline toward final approval are not yet settled.

Email Christian at christian.kallen@sonomanews.com.