Santa Clarita – The Saugus Cafe, first established in 1886, has been renamed to “South Valencia Café.” The change comes amidst a drop in customers, according to the owners. “You know, a fair amount of people just don’t want to drive all the way to Saugus for mediocre food. It’s the traffic, who wants to be stuck on Bouquet in front of Best Buy for 30 minutes when they could go down Newhall Ranch to Eggs-n-Things?” said Betty, who has been a server at the cafe since its opening.

The café will also be updating the tabletops to remove the advertisements for businesses in the late 1980s and early 1990s, replacing them with ads for now-defunct businesses in the late ’90s and early 2000s. Ads for Q-Zar, Mountasia, Mike’s Tires, and Caruso’s II are among those that will be heavily featured.

South Valencia Café owners hope the changes bring in new cliental, adding “we’re kinda tired of people from outside the area claiming we’re their favorite restaurant. That’s just a lie. We’re a gold old fashion, quintessential Americana greasy spoon, we know what we are. You come here once every 3 years. We get it.”

Jerome Horwitz

Jerome Horwitz is a Santa Clarita native. His family traces their lineage all the way back to the 1960s when his grandparents moved to the area to start a farm in what is now Castaic Lake. Growing turnips proved unfeasible below water, so they got out of farming and started a donut shop specializing in Bear Claws. Jerome enjoys watching paint dry, and lurking in local Facebook groups.