Santa Clarita has been the home of filmmaking in the western genre since the days of Tom Mix and Roy Rogers.  So much so that their small historic “Old Newhall” boasts an upgraded system of charming streets with one and two story commercial buildings.  The sidewalks themselves serve as an historic walk of fame for cowboy and cowgirl movie stars of old.

Located at the intersection of Old Newhall’s Market and Main Streets , and in a newly renovated 1980’s two story commercial building, resides the new restaurant, the Old Town Junction.  The brainchild of local chef Daniel Otto, this establishment strives to bring Old Newhall a signature moment by providing incredible American cuisine in an artful, and timely environment.

PROJECT SCOPE:

The subject property is located in an emerging commercial center in Santa Clarita’s Old Newhall.

The ownership team of the two story building, along with Chef Otto, have tasked our team with the repositioning of this very dated generic two story office and commercial retail building.

The Old Newhall Specific Plan calls for “Cowboy Victorian” architecture as an acceptable design style.

Our design direction for the building is to renovate the exterior of the building in to an architecture that would be comfortable on Santa Barbara’s State Street. 

Our repositioning job was to create an environment for the 2,774 square foot restaurant to thrive, an additional inline tenant, and a RE/MAX office space on the buildings second floor.

Each floor plate is approximately 4,000 square feet.

PROJECT SITE/S:

The project site is located at the corner of Market and Main Street in Old Newhall.

The building has parking in the rear of the property.

The predominant access to the restaurant will be located on the Main and Market Street corner.

PROJECT SITE CONTEXT:

The project located in a small scale neighborhood main street that is roughly four blocks long. 

The City has upgraded all of the public common areas including new sidewalks, landscaping, street lighting, and public street parking.

BUILDING DESIGN:

The existing ground floor tenant storefront was only 8’-0” high in a building with 12’-0” floor height.

The primary task for the building shell is to expand the visibility for the restaurant and inline tenants. 

Our design solution removed all of the existing storefront and raise the storefront head height to 9’-6”.

We replaced the main storefront with La Cantina doors that open to the street.

Paint colors are brightened with a bright white and chocolate brown.

Lastly, new tenant identity signage.

RESTAURANT DESIGN:

The overall design goal for the restaurant was to organize the required spaces, create an efficient kitchen, and maximize the allowed seating per code.

By adding sprinklers to the entire building, we were able to remove the drywall ceiling exposing the existing web trusses.

A rich material palette of wood flooring, Calcutta marble on the bar front, and an elegant lighting solution create the overall warm and friendly dining environment.