Old Town Goleta's Roadwork Is Nearly Finished, and Hollister Is Still Waiting on Its Regulars

"We lost 40 percent of revenue overnight when that road construction started," Kyle Jones told the Santa Barbara Independent in August, as he announced that Jonesy's Fried Chicken would close at the end of the month. He opened the restaurant in 2024 on Orange Avenue, a few blocks off Hollister. He said regulars drove in from Summerland and Solvang. He also said something that says more about Old Town this fall than the closure does. In his view the road is working better now, but people still think of it as clogged with traffic.

That gap is Old Town's main story heading into the holidays. The street is mostly built. The open question is whether people who changed their habits during construction will change them back.

Where the Street Stands in October 2026

Project Connect is the City of Goleta's largest capital project. It has been rebuilding the Old Town area in stages, and the order of those stages helps explain why the businesses and the city describe it so differently.

The lane changes on Hollister are almost two years old. The double roundabouts have been running for seven months. As of its September update, the city says traffic at the Pine and Ekwill roundabout is "flowing smoothly." For most drivers coming through Old Town, the street they will use for years is already in place.

Two Sets of Numbers From the Same Block

In May, city staff gave the Goleta City Council a report on the restriping. It covered late 2024 through early 2026 and compared those months with traffic before the project. Derek Rapp, the city's contract traffic engineer, said the project was meeting its goals. The report showed lower speeds, fewer collisions, more pedestrians and cyclists, and fewer cars, with daily traffic down by fewer than 2,200 trips from pre-project levels. Rapp said it was too early to call the project a complete success. Councilmember James Kyriaco said he can now get through Old Town in a couple of minutes, at 25 mph instead of 35.

The parking figures look good on paper as well. On-street spaces along the corridor rose from 69 to 88.

Owners told Noozhawk that the trouble is how those spaces work. Guadalupe Vela, who owns La Tapatia #3 at 5764 Hollister Ave., said the back-in angled parking first cost her half her customers. Some regulars who used to come twice a week stopped coming. Customers told her the parking was a hassle because traffic behind them didn't always leave room to back in. By May some had returned, but she was still about 25 percent below where she had been.

Other owners said the same. Ruta Safranavicius of Paperback Alley Used Books said she sees no foot traffic. Morgan Kay of Goodland Florist agreed. Phebe Mansur, who runs CopyRightSB at 5708 Hollister Ave., said that from her window it looks like fewer people are biking through, and she planned to count them herself. A year earlier, after the restriping, she had said her business was down more than 50 percent.

Both accounts can be accurate. The city's pedestrian increase came from one count at Hollister and Pine/Nectarine during commute hours. A copy shop or a family restaurant depends on whether particular customers come back on particular days. A shorter, calmer drive through Old Town doesn't mean those customers have returned.

The Storefronts Are Where That Gap Shows

You can see the gap in the turnover over the past year.

Goodland BBQ opened at 5725 Hollister Ave. in 2022 and closed at the end of October 2025. Owner Tom Ramirez said the lease was ending and that he and his wife had decided to move on. Jonesy's followed this summer. Jones named the Hollister work, from the new parking setup to the redrawn lanes and the two roundabouts, as the reason people stopped coming to that part of town. He is still catering events through November.

The next tenant at 5725 Hollister is a bet on the street as it is now. Eddie's Grill, a family diner that started in Lompoc in 2014 and now has locations in San Luis Obispo, Buellton and Ventura, is moving into the old Goodland space. Owner Eduardo Villa will run it with his brother Alfredo and his son Diego. He told Noozhawk that Old Town is "kind of a busy street right here," but he doesn't "see very much action during the breakfast time." The Goleta location will offer full table service, unlike the counter ordering at the family's other restaurants. As of late September, the owners were waiting on final city permits and hoped to open within weeks.

A larger bet came in August. Kellogg Square, the retail center at 5555 to 5585 Hollister Ave. that is home to Goleta Floral, The Imperial Cocktail Bar and Trek Bicycle, sold to Los Angeles-based AJR Capital Group for $11.3 million. According to the Colliers press release, the plan is to keep it as a retail center. The News-Press story about the sale pointed to several housing projects underway in Goleta and the new residents they are expected to bring.

So one family-run kitchen left, blaming the roadwork. Another family is opening a diner with a sit-down breakfast. An outside investor paid eight figures to keep the corner by Highway 217 as shops. Each is a different read on whether Old Town's customers will come back.

The Last Pieces Still Under Construction

Two more projects are still ahead, and both could add reasons to stop in Old Town.

• Ekwill Street extension. The city's September update says it is "slated to open later this year," with travel lanes, bike lanes, sidewalks and landscaped parkways. A March city release had listed it as complete. The September page is the newer one, and it describes active construction.
• Goleta train depot. It was supposed to open this summer. An August 31 Noozhawk report said substantial completion is now expected before the end of the year.
• San Jose Creek bike path. The city's October update says a section along Highway 217 is finished but stays closed to the public while construction continues.

Until those open, Old Town is still partly a construction zone, and owners say that reputation is what keeps customers away.

Reasons to Park on Hollister Before the Year Ends

The city has been working on that reputation. Its "Old Town Open for Business" campaign put up banners and A-frame signs, made videos, and held block parties and a Mexican Independence Day festival. The 2024 campaign also listed all-day free parking at the Goleta Community Center and the Orange Avenue lot, plus free 90-minute parking at Community West Bank and on Carson Street. Those details date from 2024, so check the posted signs before relying on them. In June, the city and the South Coast Chamber held the third year of "Meet Me in Old Town," with two evening block parties on Pine Avenue on June 17 and June 24.

Here is what's on the calendar from now through December:

1. First-Sunday concerts at Rancho La Patera & Stow House. MoneyLuv plays today, October 4. More concerts are scheduled for November 1 and December 6.
2. Wild & Free Film Festival, November 6 to 8. The second annual festival has events at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara and Camino Real Marketplace.
3. Holiday at the Ranch, Saturday, December 5, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Rancho La Patera & Stow House.
4. Old Town Goleta Holiday Parade, the same evening at 6 p.m., on Hollister Avenue from Orange Avenue to Kinman Avenue.

The parade route runs past La Tapatia #3, CopyRightSB, the old Goodland space and Kellogg Square, on the one-lane-each-way Hollister that owners and the city have been arguing about since 2024. If Eddie's Grill gets its permits on the timeline the Villa family hopes for, the December 5 parade will be one of its first big nights in Old Town.

If you're weighing a move within Goleta or just curious how this stretch of Hollister is changing, I'm always happy to talk it through. I follow these Old Town updates closely, and I'm glad to share what I'm seeing on the street. Let's Connect at Live In Santa Barbara.