At the Crepe Place in Santa Cruz, time has stood still in many ways. The freshly baked honey wheat loaf and hearty savory crepes haven\u2019t changed. Neither has the tin ceiling in the bar or the saloon-style doors in the dining room. Even some of the kitchen crew and servers are the same.<\/p>\n
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The Crepe Place opened as a French eatery in 1973, and I\u2019ve been going there for 30 years. Yet on my most recent visit, a warm Tuesday in February, I found it better than ever.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My husband and I settled into a table in the ample and lush back garden, near a pergola draped with colorful glass bottles and a trickling water feature. As the sun set and the eclectic band called Jazz the Dog took the stage, we dug into a delicious turkey crepe and a hefty cheeseburger.<\/p>\n
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Dinner for two for under 50 bucks and a free live show in a magical alfresco setting? Yes, please.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the best spot in Santa Cruz,\u201d general manager Amy Di Chiro told me in a recent interview. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing so much development in Santa Cruz, and a lot of it is really homogeneous. What\u2019s special about this place \u2014 it\u2019s kind of like an homage to what Santa Cruz once was.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Customers enter the Crepe Place in Santa Cruz, Calif., on Feb. 26, 2026.<\/p>\n
Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE<\/p>\n
General Manager Amy Di Chiro serves dishes to customers at the Crepe Place in Santa Cruz, Calif., on Feb. 26, 2026.<\/p>\n
Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE<\/p>\n
Bartender Nicholas Gyorkos makes a drink at the Crepe Place in Santa Cruz, Calif., on Feb. 26, 2026.<\/p>\n
Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE<\/p>\n
I started coming to the Crepe Place in the \u201990s as a\u00a0UC Santa Cruz undergrad. Since then, the menu has expanded beyond crepes. While the turkey crepe dinner ($27), which comes with soup or salad and the signature honey wheat mini loaf, has long been my go-to, the 8-ounce cheeseburger served with fries or salad ($18) was introduced last year; both are so satisfying. (Crepes ordered a la carte are $6 less than the crepe dinners.)<\/p>\n
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Under the green awning of the circa-1900 Victorian that houses the restaurant, a weathered tin cutout of an old-timey cop standing on a bottle cap \u2014 a vintage Pepsi advertisement \u2014 has greeted diners for decades. The front room, which holds the bar and a large stage, is decorated with music and movie art spanning generations. Through a corridor and past the 60-seat dining room is the garden, which has two stages and seating for another 140.<\/p>\n
In my UC Santa Cruz\u00a0days, Adam Bergeron was an employee at the Crepe Place. From 1990 to 1999, he worked his way up from salad-maker to kitchen and general manager. But we didn\u2019t meet until my recent visit, after I learned that the restaurant is under new ownership.<\/p>\n
Well, sort of. Bergeron and his wife, Jaimi Holker, are its present and past owners.<\/p>\n
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Co-owners Adam Bergeron and Jaimi Holker with family members of the original owners Michelle O\u2019Mahony and host\u00a0Keeley\u00a0O\u2019Mahony at the Crepe Place in Santa Cruz, Calif., on Feb. 26, 2026.<\/p>\n
Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE<\/p>\n
A Buddha statue in the back garden at the Crepe Place in Santa Cruz, Calif., on Feb. 26, 2026.<\/p>\n
Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE<\/p>\n
During his initial tenure at the Crepe Place, Bergeron and restaurant founders Marlene and Gary Keeley had talked about him someday buying the business, but it was never serious, Bergeron recalled. He eventually moved to San Francisco, where, in 2003, he and Holker opened the 12 Galaxies nightclub, which had a five-year run.<\/p>\n
In 2007, Gary was ready to sell. (Marlene had died four years prior.) Since Bergeron and Holker were operating 12 Galaxies and raising two kids in San Francisco, they purchased the restaurant with Bergeron\u2019s friend, Eric Gifford, who lives in Santa Cruz. Together, they turned the Crepe Place into a bona fide live music venue, hosting free and ticketed shows.<\/p>\n
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\u201cA million bands played here that are now famous,\u201d Bergeron said, rattling off names such as Portugal. The Man and Local Natives, as well as Norah Jones and Father John Misty. \u201cFrank Black from the Pixies played right where we\u2019re sitting,\u201d he continued, referring to the stage in the back corner of the garden.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Starting in 2012, Bergeron and Holker branched out to another entertainment field, initially buying the historic Balboa and Vogue theaters in San Francisco, then later the 4 Star.<\/p>\n
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Meernaa performs on the garden stage at the Crepe Place in Santa Cruz, Calif., on Feb. 26, 2026.<\/p>\n
Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE<\/p>\n
Squid Row Orchestra warms up for a performance at the Crepe Place in Santa Cruz, Calif., on Feb. 26, 2026.<\/p>\n
Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE<\/p>\n
Kisser performs on the garden stage at the Crepe Place in Santa Cruz, Calif., on Feb. 26, 2026.<\/p>\n
Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE<\/p>\n
With their younger child graduating high school in 2018, the couple felt like they were entering a new phase in their lives and sold the Crepe Place to Chuck Platt and his wife Vanessa. Vanessa was an accountant for the restaurant, while Chuck is the bassist for punk rock band Good Riddance.<\/p>\n
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Fast forward to summer 2024. By then, Bergeron and Holker had helped establish and sold their interest in San Francisco\u2019s buzzy Laundromat restaurant and were itching for a change of scenery. \u201cI grew up in cities and had lived in them my whole life,\u201d Holker explained. \u201cI had been saying, \u2018I kind of want to move to the edge of nowhere\u2019 \u2014 not the middle, but the edge, less of a city.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bergeron was missing the Crepe Place. In a conversation with former joint co-owner Gifford, Bergeron wondered whether the Platts would sell it back to him. \u201cAbout an hour later\u201d \u2014 out of the blue \u2014 \u201cI got a text from Chuck saying, \u2018I had a dream last night that I sold you the Crepe Place back,\u2019\u201d Bergeron recounted.<\/p>\n
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Customers dine in the dining room at the Crepe Place in Santa Cruz, Calif., on Feb. 26, 2026.<\/p>\n
Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE<\/p>\n
Customers hang out in the bar area at the Crepe Place in Santa Cruz, Calif., on Feb. 26, 2026.<\/p>\n
Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE<\/p>\n
In early 2025,\u00a0Bergeron and Holker, who currently reside in Felton, acquired the Crepe Place and the building it occupies. Among their early action items was hiring Di Chiro again; she previously worked at the restaurant from 2015 to 2022. A month into their latest proprietorship, Bergeron and Holker shuttered for nine days for renovations, including painting the interior, replacing the roof and overhauling the kitchen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt still surprises me how much we got done,\u201d Holker said of the tight turnaround. \u201cThe dedication that everybody showed up with was incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Consider it a testament to the restaurant\u2019s iconic stature in the community.<\/p>\n
Original owner Gary Keeley had opened the creperie in 1973 at the suggestion of his sister, who had just returned from Paris and was raving about the crepes she had in the French capital. \u201cThere was no other entity selling crepes, and I think most Santa Cruzans had never even heard of them,\u201d he told Good Times<\/a> in a 2023 article celebrating the restaurant\u2019s jubilee. (Keeley died later that year.)<\/p>\n