Lid may come off Cannery

Mathis Winkler

CANNERY VILLAGE -- At the moment, the Cannery won’t welcome patrons.

It pretty much hasn’t for the past 20 months, since its former owner,

Bill Hamilton, closed up shop in September 1999.

But if things go smoothly, the restaurant’s new owners plan to open

for business in September. And when they bring one of Newport Beach’s

eating institutions back to life, they hope to do so with a sense of

history.

That’s where it gets tricky, because Hamilton’s Cannery was a

reincarnation of the original Western Canners Co., which began operations

about 1919 and went out of business in 1966.

As it stands, the building is about 30 years old. Its weathered,

cream-colored, corrugated-iron facade and rusty signs inside make it

appear like the real thing. But the historic significance of today’s

Cannery lies more in personal memories of romantic marriage proposals,

festive anniversaries or simply enjoyable meals than its role as a

reminder of the city’s disappearing past as a fishing hub.

“We’re just preserving an idea of history and not necessarily

preserving history,” said Steve Herbert, who is the operating partner for

the new restaurant.

Together with Ron Salisbury, who operates the El Cholo restaurants in

Los Angeles, among others, Herbert is raising about $2 million from

private individuals to revive the Cannery. Newport Beach resident Jack

Croul, who bought the building from Hamilton in 1999 and is leasing it to

the business duo for at least 20 years, also gave a “nice sum” to help

fix up the place, Herbert said.

The focus will remain on seafood -- a specialty Herbert is familiar

with after working as the general manager at Gladstone’s 4 Fish in

Pacific Palisades for eight years.

“We want to do something that you don’t get a lot in Newport Beach:

live product,” Herbert said during a tour of the building Monday,

pointing out the place for a future tank for lobsters and crabs.

Right now, the building’s virtually empty except for a mountain of

wooden chairs rising in a corner. The smell of freshly cut wood, rather

than culinary aromas, fill the large space. Blueprints show there will be

a dining area on the Cannery’s lower level, with an outside patio

overlooking the Rhine Channel. Upstairs, patrons will lounge on sofas and

chairs around an open fireplace and nibble on sushi from a bar in the

corner.

“We’re going to have the best of all seafoods: the fresh, the live and

the raw,” Herbert said, adding that there are no plans to include live

entertainment at the restaurant.

“We’re not here to be a night club,” he said. “Our focus is food.”

That sentiment was welcomed by nearby residents who had opposed an

application to add live entertainment to the old Cannery. While the

city’s Planning Commission and Police Department approved the

application, City Council members overturned the decision and denied the

request.

While not the only reason that led to the restaurant’s closure,

Hamilton has said in the past that he needed live entertainment to

survive.

If the new owners have live entertainment, “it’s not going to sit well

with me,” said Don Gregory, who’s a Newport Beach arts commissioner and

lives across the street from the Cannery. “Otherwise, I will be one of

the first to come [and eat there.]”

FYI

The owners of the new Cannery restaurant are looking for stories about

and photographs of the building’s history to print in their menus each

week. People whose submissions are selected will be invited to dine at

the restaurant with their family. Information: (949) 566-0060.