Ending his term, Martino says Solvang’s in good shape
Chamber president likes what he sees
By Dave Bemis / Managing Editor / | Posted: Tuesday, January 10, 2012 12:00 am
John Martino is one of many people who thought he was coming to the Santa Ynez Valley for a short time but ended up staying.
In his case, a job that was to last three months became a three-decade career that’s still going strong.
As the outgoing board president of the Solvang Chamber of Commerce, he likes what he sees when he looks over the local business terrain.
“I have seen the business community of Solvang reach different levels, highs and lows ... and today I see it in one of the best situations” of his career, he said.
With its tourist-based economy, Solvang’s strengths remain “its unique architecture ... and the shops that remain unique,” he said, such as First Street Leather and the Mole Hole, among many others, in a mix that includes thriving traditional Danish bakeries and new businesses.
“I think we’re getting some great new shops and great new owners, who are really entrepreneurs,” Martino said, and “we’re getting some really nice restaurants finally,” such as Cecco, Fresco Valley Cafe and Root 246.
Even in a “down” economy, or perhaps partially because of it, Solvang can sustain a strong tourism economy, he said.
“I think the average tourist-spend will continue to climb for many reasons. For one thing, people are taking shorter trips. The LA market is a great one for us,” he said.
For the Santa Ynez Valley, he noted, Los Angeles’ huge pool of people and their dollars aren’t far away, “but we’re worlds apart.”
“It’s a day trip, too,” for people living in Santa Barbara, Arroyo Grande, San Luis Obispo and even Paso Robles, he added.
He gives some credit for the strong tourism to regional advertising done by the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, which employs him as executive director of hospitality for its casino hotel and the Hotel Corque in downtown Solvang.
He also has high praise for the year-old Santa Ynez Valley Hotel Association, which created an official business improvement district and funds itself with a $2 fee per night added to the cost of each occupied hotel room between Los Alamos and Santa Ynez.
With those funds, the hotel association has been advertising the Valley regionally, throughout the state and even in some international markets.
“I really take my hat off to the movers and shakers who started that” hotel association, Martino said, as well as to the Solvang Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Santa Ynez Valley Visitors Association, all of which promote tourism year-round.
“We have 700-plus hotel rooms ... occupancy is very good in Solvang (and) we’re going to get the name out” even more, he said.
The history and beauty of Mission Santa Ines will continue to attract visitors as well, and “two of our secret weapons are (City Manager) Brad Vidro and the new planning and economic development director” for Solvang, Arleen Pelster, who are valuable resources for the business community, he added.
Martino has seen the local hospitality industry from several different perspectives, beginning in 1980 when he was recruited to operate a new restaurant called Belle Terrasse in Tivoli Square, now the site of the Wine Country Inn.
“A plane crash changed the direction of my life,” he said, in a reference to the death of Pea Soup Andersen’s owner Vince Evans, his wife and daughter in April 1980.
In October 1980, when he was working in Palm Springs and La Jolla hotels and restaurants, “I was recruited by one of his business partners,” Lucien Escallier, to run Belle Terrasse, which Evans had just opened.
Martino thought he would work in the Valley for three months, but 31 years later, he said, “I’ve never left.”
In 1984, he became food and beverage manager at the Alisal Guest Ranch and Resort, where he remained until 2000.
During that time he consulted in opening the Santa Ines Inn and then became executive director of hospitality for the Chumash Casino Resort.
At Belle Terrasse in the 1980s, a young man named Vince Armenta was one of the bus boys working for him. As Chumash tribal chairman, Armenta now employs Martino.