Last month, the Utovac family posted a Facebook message that was prefaced with the words, “all good things must come to an end is a proverb that means nothing lasts forever…” The outpouring from local longshore workers and fishermen — or any San Pedrans for that matter — who got to eat a Devine Burger at the little burger joint at the edge of Ports O’ Call Village was similar to the one in July of 1989, when a condo development on 22nd and Mesa forced it from its digs there.
Utro’s closing this time was Dec. 30, 2022. The development of West Harbor was the culprit this time. The family’s brief comment that the leasing rates were going to be raised to cost-prohibitive levels after the old Fishermen’s Association building is remodeled from the inside out, and word on the grapevine was that the developers think they could fetch rental rates similar to what’s in Santa Monica or Redondo Beach without proof.
In 1989, Utro’s as this Harbor Area town knew it remained closed for about six years before reopening at Berth 73.
Before the cafe earned its stripes as a San Pedro institution and every bit of one as Walkers Cafe at Point Fermin Park, it was called Crest Cafe in 1955, owned by a married woman in Compton, Genevieve Wunderlich, who then sold it two years later to San Pedro resident Leah Blakeman. The elder Joe Utovac was just 29 years old when he bought the little restaurant that became Utro’s Crest Cafe.
The elder Utovac promised and delivered great hamburgers and cold beer. Los Angeles Times writer John McCafferty painted a picture of the old Utro’s Crest Cafe in a 1982 column entitled “Hamburgers, Beer, and Humor: Cafe Fortunately Lacks Any Ambiance:”
Squatting nakedly on an otherwise vacant lot above the harbor on 22nd Street is an eating establishment that fortunately has no style, verve, panache, class, or “ambiance” — a word seldom used in San Pedro anyway.
What Utro’s Crest Cafe does have is what it boasts on its t-shirts: “Great Hamburgers. Cold Beer.”
And a comfortable sense of humor that goes back a long way.
A battered sign on the sidewalk out front is the opening gag: “Leave your car here. Utro’s will park it for you.” Park it yourself. The parking lot is dirt and weeds, but don’t worry about it.
Inside the little building, which is about 30 cheeseburgers wide by 120 long, is a small museum full of memorabilia, bric-a-bac, and cornball humor.
“Don’t throw your cigarettes off the dock; our cockroaches are dying of cancer,” a sign says. Next to it: “Have you walked your rat today?”
When the new Utro’s opened at Berth 73 in a space occupied by the Little Fisherman seafood restaurant, the family kept that sense of humor, even as they dropped Crest from the restaurant’s name, reading “Utro’s Cafe.”
Joey Utovac said that the Berth 73 location “didn’t fully compare to the almighty Crest Cafe.”
That’s probably true. But the Utro’s at Berth 73 is what will remain in this town’s living memory.
The younger Utovac noted that the new Utro’s was truly an old-fashioned mom-and-pop cafe run by his parents, his sister Nicole and a colorful cast of characters, employees and helpful friends who kept the dream alive.