What led to the sudden closure of Bodega and Skyloft
What's next for these iconic spaces?
Editor’s note: This story was completed yesterday but it seemed incongruous to send while our neighbors in L.A. faced such devastation. My thoughts and prayers are with our dear Angelenos.
On the first weekend of the New Year, Laguna Beach restaurateur Ivan Spiers made a stunning exit, clearing out every trace of his two popular restaurants – Bodega and Skyloft in the Heisler building – and closing down a legacy as abruptly as he walked away.
The Heisler building (400 to 424 S. Coast Highway) is an iconic gateway piece that stands directly across from Hotel Laguna, once also considered iconic. Ironically, the Hotel just passed its 7th anniversary of closure – the rooms there have remained shuttered since New Year’s Day 2018.
Aside from the restaurant operations on the street level of Hotel Laguna, our two heralding pillars of Laguna Beach now stand dark and empty.
Citing ongoing maintenance issues, including the faulty elevator responsible for carrying patrons to the rooftop dining of Skyloft, Spiers said he had had enough.
“We had ongoing, frustrating issues that threatened the safety of my employees and our patrons, and I’m not going to put people at risk.
“That, coupled with dealing with a City that doesn’t support us independent restaurant owners … I couldn’t deal with it anymore. On Sunday, I paid all my employees, packed up and left,” he said simply.
Last weekend, shocked residents and visitors watched as an army of salvage trucks rolled out of Laguna with all the furnishings that had, the day prior, provided the meticulous and creative decor in both restaurant concepts.
180 employees now looking for work
With two thriving businesses now gone, 180 employees including sound engineers, and security personnel, are looking for work and as many as 100 musicians who had monthly acts at Skyloft are trying to find new gigs. (Area restaurant owners: see the footnote.)
“We’re doing what we can to incorporate as many of our people and musicians as possible into Mozambique and, of course, Mozambique isn’t going anywhere,” said Spiers. “I just finished that large renovation and it’s really made a difference for our community.
“I ask our residents and music fans to continue to support us at Mozambique and we’ll do what we can to bring back the favorite Skyloft acts,” said Spiers.
New landlords as equally surprised at the closure
In September 2023, Laguna Beach resident Sam Goldstein sold the Heisler Building for $16.5 million to an L.A.-based entity.
As is customary, Spiers’ two restaurant leases simply rolled with the sale. The new owners chose L.A.-based Pegasus Investments to be the new property manager of the Heisler gem.
Goldstein initially purchased the expansive property in 2005 and devoted the next five years to a complete renovation of the building. “Restoring that building felt like a battle every day for five years but when the building was completely finished, it was a real beauty,” Goldstein told me.
Spiers and Goldstein formed their initial owner/tenant relationship in 2014 after Rocking Fish vacated the upper level.
“When Sam Goldstein owned the building, he was an excellent, responsive landlord,” said Spiers.
“He poured millions into that building to renovate it. And I poured millions into my restaurants there, too. He and I worked together for months to get the Skyloft rooftop approved through the City and then constructed. And his daughter, Serena, was always right there, helping me get things done or fixed. It was a great relationship and I was sorry to see them sell,” said Spiers.
“Ivan and I both have always had similar interests,” Sam told me. “We’re very committed to improving Laguna Beach and creating more business. Ivan always impresses me; he’s never backed down from investing in his concepts to create really attractive restaurants for our residents and visitors. It’s such a shame to see this happen.”
“Ivan always impresses me; he’s never backed down from investing in his concepts to create really attractive restaurants for our residents and visitors. It’s such a shame to see this happen.” - Sam Goldstein, former owner of Heisler Building
David Chasin, the CEO of Pegasus Investments, told me that they were stunned to hear the news. “We were as shocked as the people of Laguna to find out that Ivan closed his business. I just learned about it late Tuesday afternoon when I got a phone call about it.
“Ivan is a well respected businessman in Laguna,” Chasin continued. “I loved what he did with Bodega, and Skyloft was a very cool place. Both restaurants provided a lot of good memories for people who live in and have visited Laguna Beach.”
The only restaurateur in Laguna Beach (ever) with four concepts
Indeed, since his arrival to Laguna Beach 30 years ago, Spiers has made quite an economic impact in this town. It started with his purchase of the long-closed Tortilla Flats property at 1740 S. Coast Highway. Shuttered from the mid-1990s, the building was in shambles. Ivan devoted more than two years to renovating the property to open as Mozambique in 2005. Rather than just introduce the first South African-inspired menu to Laguna, Spiers also chose to create a significant live music venue, which continues to book multiple acts every month.
In 2014, when Rocking Fish closed in the Heisler Building’s upper level, Goldstein approached Spiers about a possible new concept there. Skyloft opened a year later with another first for Laguna Beach – an elevator that now extended all the way up to the rooftop level to meet ADA regulations. (It was a thing of beauty to see it come up through the floor onto the actual roof deck.) At Skyloft, Ivan carried his love of live music forward, booking multiple acts monthly there, too.
When Skyloft initially opened, the lower level of the Heisler building was, at that time, filled with the Tommy Bahamas restaurant and clothing store. They had arrived in November 2010 but exited in November 2019. After three years of dealing with a vacant restaurant space, Goldstein says he was surprised when Ivan approached him to open a restaurant there.
“Ivan used to say that Skyloft had been such a headache to build with the City that he wouldn’t open another restaurant in Laguna Beach. But he’s very good at creating successful restaurants and he was as tired of looking at that empty space as I was,” said Goldstein.
Spiers took over that vacancy in late 2022, opening his third concept, Laguna Fish Company, in February 2023. After several months of tepid sales there, Spiers decided to close that concept and, a mere 40 days later, opened a completely reimagined concept, the warm and lively Bodega restaurant.
Meanwhile, Spiers also chose to take over the Ristorante Rumari operation from Restaurateur Chris Keller who had purchased it from the original owners, the Crivello family. Spiers reopened “Rumari” in June 2023 and business there has been rolling briskly along ever since.
Between the four concepts and until this week, Spiers was the third largest employer in Laguna Beach.
A tireless changemaker
Over the years of restaurant ownership, Spiers has proven a tireless and relentless trailblazer. When business slows, he’s quick to make changes and improvements.
Years ago, he invented “Laguna Voice,” a singing contest in Mozambique’s live music lounge to overcome sleepy, low-revenue Tuesday evenings. Many unknown musicians were “discovered” there and have gone on to national and international acclaim. At the same property, Spiers also changed a dusty, rarely used private dining room into a thriving “speakeasy,” now the Durban Room.
“Once you know Ivan, you see why his decision to close both restaurants is so surprising. Ivan doesn’t give up or give in unless he feels he’s entirely out of options.” - Sam Goldstein, former owner of Heisler Building
He recently poured millions into a Skyloft main level renovation, inventing a new dining section called “Herb’s” and restructuring the popular live music and dance club.
As mentioned, when sales dragged at Laguna Fish Company, the innovative Spiers simply wiped that slate clean and introduced the more engaging Bodega concept. And his most recent multi-million dollar renovation of Mozambique’s live music lounge (now Ivan’z House) shows a commitment well beyond what most restaurateurs would consider, even in robust economic times.
“Once you know Ivan, you see why his decision to close both restaurants is so surprising. Ivan doesn’t give up or give in unless he feels he’s entirely out of options,” said Goldstein.
Restoring the community treasure
“It’s never a good look when a business shuts down, not for Ivan and not for us,” said Chasin of Pegasus.
“We take a lot of pride in managing trophy assets and this is such an unfortunate happening for Laguna Beach. First, we want to figure out what went wrong here. Then, our goal is to get the property back up and operating and ensure that it’s restored to a busy community treasure again.
“If we can work with Ivan so that he can reopen – that would be great. But if he has truly closed the book on this, then we’ll be working to position a fabulous tenant as quickly as possible,” said Chasin.
The Heisler Building comprises more than 12,000 square feet, with the rooftop deck at another 4,500 square feet.
Editor’s note: Area restaurant owners: If you are hiring and are able to help these misplaced employees, just hit “reply” in this email and send me (Diane Armitage) a note. I’ll compile a list of restaurants hiring.
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Because the City Hall and Council have mismanaged the town for years. Just think in the last 10+ years with Hotel Laguna being closed, the nearby Cities have completed significant projects. Huntington Beach built Pacific City, Newport Beach built Lido Village, and Dana Point redeveloped the lantern streets and is near done with the harbor. All the while the incompetent hires in City Hall and Council in Laguna can't even get a single hotel to reopen on arguably the best piece of oceanfront real estate for tourism in the whole city. Sorry for all the reality in this post.
Running a restaurant in LAGUNA is extremely difficult but totally possible you know what you’re doing. Finney’s nailed it and so have a few others. I’m sure the taco stand has way higher profits than taco Bell. The best location in Laguna, c’est la vie, continues to have very few customers year after year. I hope I’m around to see someone realize a potential of that space.