Business

WATSONVILLE—More than 100 people gathered in front of the newly rebuilt McDonald’s restaurant on Freedom Boulevard Tuesday for a grand reopening celebration. The business, located at 1598 Freedom Blvd., replaces the one originally built in 1974, which had remained at the same location until demolition...

WATSONVILLE—A long-neglected garden at Rolling Hills Middle School was brought back to life Thursday thanks to the volunteer efforts of the Watsonville company K&D Landscaping.  Armed with a host of tools and dozens of starter plants, the crew tore into the hard-packed soil as part...

WATSONVILLE—It has been three decades since Gabino Torres and Anna Martinez opened a small Mexican seafood restaurant on Main Street, a business they launched as a way to pair their love of their native cuisine with a drive to support their family. La Perla del...

WATSONVILLE—More than two dozen community members at Tuesday night’s Watsonville City Council meeting showed resounding support for the Pajaro Valley Arts Council’s planned rebuild of the historic Porter Building, a City of Watsonville-owned property at the gateway of downtown. And a competing proposal from...

A crew from Randazzo Enterprises use an excavator to demolish the National 9 Motel in downtown Watsonville Wednesday to make way for a four-story, 80-room Hilton Home2 Suites hotel. Approved as a La Quinta Inn by the Watsonville City Council in 2016 and revised...

Kelly-Moore Paints, a household word for the past 78 years in residential and commercial paint, has abruptly closed. With a Watsonville, Aptos and Santa Cruz location, and 61 stores sprinkled around the San Francisco Bay Area, the paint giant officially announced last week that it...

During the pandemic, a white-haired man pulled up to Taqueria Mi Tierra 2 on Freedom Boulevard and began to honk his horn, believing that a carhop would come out to take his order.  The man was remembering the days when the building was still the...

WATSONVILLE—A new program has launched at Envision Fitness & Nutrition in downtown Watsonville, aiming to support youth by teaching them about health, wellness, stress management and more. Envision opened in 2020, during the height of the pandemic. They began with virtual health and fitness classes,...