This year the biggest changes on Old Town Goleta's stretch of Hollister Avenue came from businesses that already had customers elsewhere. Cajé Coffee Roasters opened a cafe at 5340 Hollister that also handles roasting and barista training for its other shops. Crushcakes cut its full Goleta menu so the space could focus on cakes and catering. A few blocks west, a family restaurant group with locations from Lompoc to Yuma moved into one of Old Town's best-known restaurant buildings. Over the same months, the City of Goleta kept rebuilding the streets that connect all of them.
For anyone who lives nearby, a morning coffee or an afternoon cake pickup now looks different. So does the drive.
| Address | Now | What changed | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5340 Hollister Ave. | Cajé Coffee Roasters | New full-service cafe, the company's sixth | Opened September 2026 |
| 5392 Hollister Ave. | Crushcakes | Changed from full-service restaurant to bakery | July 27, 2026 |
| 5725 Hollister Ave. | Eddie's Grill | Took over the former Goodland BBQ and Alphie's space | Soft opening October 5, 2026 |
| 5892 Hollister Ave. | Los Altos | Stayed open after the Milpas Street location closed | February 2026 |
5340 Hollister: a cafe built to supply the others
Noozhawk reported in September that Cajé Coffee Roasters had opened a full-service cafe at 5340 Hollister Ave. It is the company's sixth store and its first new location in two years. Owner Ryan Patronyk told the outlet the Goleta shop would offer "the full Cajé experience," including specialty drinks that some of the other shops don't carry.
The bigger change is behind the counter. Patronyk said the new location lets the company process more coffee beans, and that it will serve as a central training hub where baristas learn before they're placed at Cajé's busier locations. So the newest people working the bar in Goleta may be in training there. The beans may also be roasted on site.
The most recent hours reported come from Edhat: Tuesday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., closed Monday. Noozhawk described a later plan for 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. hours starting September 18. No public listing has confirmed those longer hours yet, so check before an early-morning or after-work visit.
5392 Hollister: cake tastings replaced the brunch menu
Fifty-odd addresses east, Crushcakes made a similar shift. Beginning July 27, its Goleta location at 5392 Hollister changed from a full-service restaurant to a bakery, according to The Restaurant Guy at SantaBarbara.com. The case now holds coffee, pastries, cupcakes, and grab-and-go items such as breakfast burritos, wraps, and granola parfaits.
Owner Shannon Gaston said the change gives the business room to expand its wedding cakes, custom cakes, and catering. The Goleta store now hosts formal cake tastings. The full breakfast and lunch menu is still served daily, but only at the Santa Barbara location at 1315 Anacapa Street.
Like Cajé, Crushcakes now uses its Goleta location as a production base. For an Old Town regular, that means a sit-down breakfast there now takes a drive downtown. A burrito and coffee to go still work on Hollister, and so does ordering a birthday cake in person.
5725 Hollister: a long-running address finds its third act
Eddie's Grill is a newcomer to Old Town, but its building is not. 5725 Hollister was home to Alphie's for about four decades until it closed in May 2021. Goodland BBQ opened there in 2022. Goodland closed in October 2025, and its owner said at the time that the lease had ended.
Eddie's Grill had a soft opening on Monday, October 5, serving lunch and dinner, according to The Restaurant Guy. The menu covers burgers, salads, and sandwiches. Brothers Eduardo, Juan Carlos, and Jose Villa started the restaurant in Lompoc in 2014 and named it after Eduardo, known as Eddie. Jose Villa later took the concept to Yuma, Arizona, where it won a 2018 Success Award from the Small Business Development Center. The company also runs locations in Ventura, Buellton, and San Luis Obispo.
The restaurant spent the late summer getting ready. In late August it posted a video of the remodeled kitchen and dining room on Instagram, calling the building "this amazing spot in the heart of Old Town," and it advertised for cooks and servers. Edhat noted that no grand opening date had been confirmed. Hours and the menu may change over the next few weeks.
Not far away, Los Altos at 5892 Hollister stayed put. In February, The Restaurant Guy reported that the Old Town restaurant would remain open after its Milpas Street location closed on February 22. That puts a South Coast operator's remaining restaurant here in Goleta.
The street around them is being rebuilt, too
Getting to the new cafes, bakeries, and restaurants has also changed. Goleta's largest capital improvement project, Project Connect, covers Hollister Avenue, Ekwill Street, and the S. Kellogg Avenue and Fowler Road area. The City says it is meant to improve pedestrian access and road conditions and to increase stormwater capacity in San Jose Creek under the Hollister Bridge. As of the City's October 2026 update:
- Pine Avenue and Ekwill Street. The new roundabout opened in July 2026. The City reports that traffic there is moving smoothly.
- Ekwill Street extension. Crews are building the final segment, and the City says it is slated to open later this year. When finished, it will have travel lanes, bike lanes, sidewalks, and landscaped parkways.
- Kellogg Way at Ekwill. Part of Kellogg Way near Ekwill is closed around the clock, with a posted detour.
- Hollister Avenue roundabout at Highway 217. Drainage work was expected to start today, Thursday, October 8, with a one-week, 24-hour partial closure at the west end of the roundabout. Drivers leaving Dearborn Place or the southbound 217 off-ramp can turn right onto Hollister but can't head east. The City recommends turning right and making a U-turn at a safe spot.
Hollister Avenue itself has already been restriped. The City finished the Old Town interim striping project in October 2024. It added bike lanes, cut traffic to one vehicle lane in each direction, and added timed parking. The City calls it a pilot that will guide a future streetscape design once funding is available. Cajé, Crushcakes, and Eddie's Grill all opened or changed formats on a street the City still treats as a trial layout.
Bike and walking routes are changing as well. The City held a groundbreaking for the San Jose Creek Multipurpose Path on April 9, 2026. Its October update says the section beside Highway 217 is finished but will stay closed while construction continues.
The blocks off Hollister drew crowds earlier this year. In June, the City's Meet Me in Old Town block parties took over Pine Avenue between Hollister and Gaviota on June 17 and June 24, with live entertainment, food, and specials from local businesses. Both dates have passed. Pine Avenue now has the new roundabout at its Ekwill end.
Further west on Hollister
Out near Camino Real, Jeannine's Restaurant and Bakery at 7060 Hollister is growing into the space next door. Tap Thai Cuisine, the neighboring tenant, served its last Goleta meal on Friday, September 25, and kept its Solvang location, Kanok Thai Cuisine. The Restaurant Guy reported that Jeannine's had applied for a permit to open a door into the Tap Thai space. Jeannine's confirmed the expansion but has no completion timetable yet. The Goleta location opened in September 2019.
Farther along Hollister, monarch season is starting. The City says monarchs come to the Goleta Butterfly Grove at Ellwood each October through February, usually arriving in October, with counts generally peaking in mid-December. The grove is free to visit, and parking is at 7729 Hollister Ave.
Gregg Leach has lived in the Santa Barbara area since 1978 and has watched Hollister Avenue's storefronts change over decades. If you own in Goleta and want to talk about how Old Town's new businesses and finished roundabouts are changing your part of town, Gregg Leach is glad to have that conversation. Let's Connect.