Echoing that. 99 Bottles really was an institution. It had the feel of a proper local pub: warm, a little scruffy, and full of character. The walls were covered with bottle caps from all kinds of beer brands — probably more than 99, honestly.

And if you made it through all 99 beers on their list, you got a small plaque on the wall, about the size of one of those e-ink grocery price tags. It was a great tavern-like atmosphere, and the kind of place that felt increasingly rare even before it was gone.

I just am always in awe of successful business owners who don't leverage their success into a business loan to buy the building or one nearby. I grew up in Austin, and there are a few businesses that have no business still sitting on their little plots to obvious places are: El Patio and Dirty Martin's. How are they able to stumble along with low prices and old school menus? Well, they own the property they sit on.

Time and time again, I see businesses fighting against rent-seeking landlords who are happy to remove a well-loved successful business for an extra few hundred a month. It's happening right now to Yard Bar (my favorite weird spot in Austin right now).

I know it's a thin margin business, but I wish every successful spot would take every damn dollar they made and at least by a comparable property so they have leverage against these landlords. It's a pointless destruction of value that doesn't have to happen to profitable well loved businesses.

> That’s just Santa Cruz culture, very aggro surfers

This sums it up well. If this were in New York, I’d be on the owner’s side (provided the food lives up). In Santa Cruz, it’s just tone deaf to (a) not involve the community in the design process, (b) not take the hint from the reviews and then (c) play the victim in the media.

Maybe Santa Cruz residents should grow up. Thankfully we seem to be making progress against this NIMBY micromanaging culture up here in SF.

> Maybe Santa Cruz residents should grow up

It's their town. Also, I can't help but wonder why the owner didn't fight fire with playful fire–her place is literally called the salty otter. Be lovably salty!

What does "grow up" entail? Why isn't current behaviour grown up?

"involve the community in the design process".

I'd create an ad campaign for all my competitors-flyers, doorhangers etc. with the same info their usual ads have, but with slop-AI art all over them.

There isn't anything wrong w/ Santa Cruz that couldn't be solved by motivated YIMBYs parking a city of 800,000 people on top of it.

> This isn’t just a story about an AI logo, it’s a story about locals who feel the business they frequented was replaced by someone trying to make a quick buck.

An AI logo is consistent with that, though. I _do_ think that, in general, using generative AI for this sort of thing is basically declaring "I didn't care enough to do this properly", and that is a bad look for branding at the best of times.

I have family in Santa Cruz, and last time I was visiting, we were talking about pizza places and we identified them by the merchandise they sell.

It is an odd place.