Joe’s Place celebrates its 25th anniversary in Paso Robles
Joe Ontiveros, left, visiting with former county supervisor Frank Mecham and Deb Mecham at Joe’s Place.
–Joe’s Place celebrates its 25th Anniversary this week in Paso Robles. Joe Ontiveros opened the popular breakfast and lunch restaurant March 8, 1995, on 12th Street in Paso Robles. That building suffered serious damage in the San Simeon Earthquake on Dec. 22, 2003. Several months later, the City of Paso Robles determined the building to be unsafe, and the restaurant closed.
Joe bought another building in Templeton and opened Joe’s Other Place before the original restaurant closed. Joe’s Other Place continues to attract big crowds on Main Street in Tempelton.
When Joe’s dad, Ted Ontiveros, closed Lolo’s at Spring and 3rd Street, Joe hired Dennis Bradshaw to remodel it. Other local contractors and craftsmen helped convert the Mexican restaurant to Joe’s Place. Ronnie Gentry painted the building. Randy Canaday worked on the electrical fixtures. Frank Mecham often stopped by to supervise. Joe’s Place on Spring Street opened on December 10, 2011.
In 2015, the City of Paso Robles approached Joe about opening another restaurant at the airport. That led to Joe’s One-Niner Diner, named after the runway at the airport. Contractor and pilot Dennis Bradshaw coordinated the remodel. Joe’s One-Niner diner opened in September of 2016.
Today, 25 years after he and his former wife, Suzanne Robitaille, opened the original Restaurant on 12th street, Joe’s Place continues to attract crowds of locals and tourists. After visitors consume a hearty breakfast at one of his restaurants, Joe still shouts as they head for the door, “Thank-you, fellow Americans.” It’s been a Paso Robles tradition for 25 years.
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