Landmark Hacienda Restaurant Bites the Dust

Longtime local residents will remember the many years that the Hacienda Restaurant stood as a familiar landmark with its large sign and palm trees on San Pablo Avenue near the El Cerrito-Richmond border.

The 6,100-square-foot restaurant, run by the late Antonio Carrico and his late wife for more than 56 years, has sat empty for a number of years.

On Wednesday, it was being turned into rubble as heavy construction equipment chewed into chunks dumped into large trucks and hauled away.

The space it occupied with become additional parking for the large surrounding site, whose main occupant is a long-shuttered, former Albertsons/Lucky store. That building is being remodeled as a home for Grocery Outlet. The property straddles the El Cerrito-Richmond border.

Patch thanks reader Janet Enos for alerting us to the demolition and submitting a couple of the accompanying photos.