The 100-to-1 cocktails bar, which closed earlier this month, will officially become the property of the City of Arcadia this week following a recent agreement between the City and the property owners. The City is paying roughly the appraised fair market value of $1.4 million and will eventually receive proceeds from the sale of the liquor license, according to City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto.
Lazzaretto says the City will retain the iconic neon sign (photo at right) and possibly some murals behind the bar, most likely turning them over to the City-owned Gilb Museum of Arcadia Heritage for preservation.
Negotiations began late last year when the City decided to add a median on Huntington Drive in front of the bar, which owner rep Brian Carney complained would eliminate left turns to the property and thus limit access. That work began recently which will also involve some re-configuring of lanes on Huntington Drive between Santa Clara Avenue past San Rafael Road towards Colorado Place.
Simultaneously, the owners of the adjacent Santa Anita Inn hotel are planning to begin construction later this year on two side-by-side Marriott hotel brands in place of the current building.
Before the agreement between the City and 100-to-1 club, there had been comments between the owners of Santa Anita Inn and the City about Santa Anita Inn potentially considering improving the visual appeal and vehicle access to the new hotels by working with the owners of the 100-to-1 property to improve that property at the triangle corner.
Both properties sit between two unusual splits in Huntington Drive, where eastbound and westbound lanes of Huntington Drive split and Santa Clara Street originates northbound, and the split-off of westbound Huntington Drive into Colorado Place.
The City plans to make some curb and lane adjustments on the corner of the 100-to-1 property but there is no solid plan yet as to what the City will do with the rest of that property. Since it’s such a small strip of property, it’s likely that there will be discussions with the owners of Santa Anita Inn about doing something that would enhance that corner lot and potentially dovetail with the hotel property. If Santa Anita Inn property owners are not interested, City officials say they will likely create another “pocket park” or some other visually appealing green element there.
— By Scott Hettrick