By Geoff Shackelford Santa Monica
The recent closing of Polly’s to make room for a Panera eatery should provide the final wake-up call for city officials to do something about the embarrassment known as the old Zucky’s building at Fifth Street and Wilshire Boulevard. Polly’s was run out of the location by a Wall Street-funded giant willing to buy its way into the location. It would be much less difficult to accept this situation if the old Zucky’s location across the street had not been sitting vacant for as long as I’ve lived in Santa Monica — nine years. With all due respect to the homeless who currently inhabit the Zucky’s front door area, this would have been a fine location for Panera to take over.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 25, 2004. Read the original PDF.