Santa Monica Seafood Market and Restaurant Opens
Santa Monica Seafood,
1000 Wilshire Boulevard, at Tenth Street, Santa Monica
310-393-5244
Santa Monica Seafood is owned by the Cigliano’s, a family tracing its California roots back to the end of the 19th century. John Deluca, arrived from Naples, Italy in 1898, and settled in San Pedro where he started life there as a fisherman. John's oldest son, Jack, began assisting his father in the family business at age nine, and by sixteen, he owned his own fishing boat. He left fishing five years later to start a new venture, a wholesale fish business called State Fish. Jack started this company with his friend Gerald Cigliano, who would later become his brother-in-law and the grandfather of the current generation of Cigliano’s running the Company.
The families first location was on the Santa Monica Pier, where they sold shark, halibut, tuna, white sea bass, sardines, anchovies, live lobsters and the "catch of the day" to the hungry tourists visiting the pier. The city of Santa Monica asked the family to move in the late 1960’s, due to increase vehicular traffic on the pier. In 1969, the Company relocated twelve blocks east to the corner of Colorado Boulevard and 12th Street, which served as its principle processing facility and corporate headquarter until April, 2003. .
As each child reached adulthood and stepped forward to join the business, a new opportunity presented itself to expand the Company. This led to the construction and opening of a second distribution and processing center in Orange County in 1985 with a state of the art complex in Rancho Domingues, which houses their entire wholesale staff, the corporate and sales offices as well as a commissary which prepares soup, special salads, and signature recipe menu items sold in the Company’s retail stores. In 1997, the Company opened its first retail-only site in Costa Mesa. This store combined an extensive display of seafood with a full kitchen in which hot meals are prepared for patio eating or take-out.
The Cigliano’s have carried on the tradition of their great Uncles Jack & Frank which has assured their continued success: hard work, business savvy, and a strong philosophy. Today February 16, 2009 is the Grand Opening of a larger new
Santa Monica Seafood providing the highest quality product at a fair and reasonable price.” The owners have also added wine, cheeses, fresh cut flowers, European condiments, and delicious ready-to-go desserts to the new spacious location. This is an incredible
Beach House Find, you've got to Sea!
