cafe oom hwy 17?

what and where is the cafe in the santa cruz mountains area where vintage cars frequent?
mods, plz edit title to read “on”

 

Alice’s restaurant

 

what days is popular? sat or sunday?
best route to take from monterey?

 

Good weather weekends are a mad house. Best to go during a week day. I live close by, and the locals stay off the road during the weekend because of the militant bicyclist who ride 3 abreast, and the boy racers.
All the Alice's tee shirts and post cards that feature old Indian motorcycles are of my bikes.

 

I'd love to do a meet-up there on a weekday once I get my plates. It is a madhouse on weekends. I've stopped there a couple times on weekends with some PCA club members for photos, but parking was a nightmare. And so were the roads. Usually just head down to the coast for a leisurely drive and a pit stop at the lighthouse and then back down via Black Road and hit 17 near Lexington to avoid most of 17.

 

I've done Alice at 8AM on Sunday morning, not too bad on Skyline getting there driving north. 9AM the bikergang showed up, about 50 of them. You could hear them slowly coming, fun to watch but time to leave....
Keep me posted when you guys go, love to join!

 

which roads to avoid(ie gravel, very bumpy, chin spoiler killer, etc)

 

Alice's is always a pleasure IMO. Yes it's busy on a sunny Saturday or Sunday, but it adds to the charm for me anyway. Always interesting cars and bikes coming and going. For the Santa Cruz mts I recommend hwy 9, 35 (skyline), 84. Then take a turn at the coast and cruise down 1 and enjoy the views. Cool villages to check out are Pescadero, Boulder Creek, Felton and of course Santa Cruz & Half Moon Bay.

 

Agree with Lola360. After storms, all the roads up there can be a surprise with washouts and debris (branches and large rocks).


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If you get to Ben Lomond on Highway 9, the Market has dry aged ribeye for $18.99/lb and if you get to HalfMoon Bay, a bit further up north is El Granada and the HalfMoonBay brewery there has great beers with fresh fish and outside seating. All roads get busy after say 11.30 on nice days, highway1 gets backed up between HMB and El Granada, so we usually do early breakfast at Alice and lunch at HMB brewery and buying a steak for the evening on the way home. One of my favorite drives/days/food/drink experiences that never disappoints.

 

any road closures or construction?

 

The roads are generally in good shape; no gravel, or bad dips. All bets are off though after a storm, or a sudden landslide, or tree falling though; much like anywhere else.
Coming from the South I heard HiWay 9 from Boulder Creek mentioned. Alice's is sort of a destination, as is the General Store in San Gregorio. Stage Road is a goodie from there to Pescadero, where the gas station actually has the BEST tacos, and a nice outdoor seating area behind. Further inland from there is the Loma Mar Store; another venue, but more expensive. There are plenty of back roads in the area; everything from fast sweepers on 84 out to the Coast from Alices, or tight, tree shaded twisties on Tunnitas Creek. Keep us posted if a group gathering is intended. These 2 just showed up one day. They prefer Wednesdays. Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I roamed around those hills, highways and backroads last June for couple of days (Friday & Saturday) in my Roadster.
While not quite as plentiful (of roads) I'm accustomed to here inland SoCal, overall it was a very pleasant experience, which I highly recommend to anyone into leisure driving with vintage cars (I assume those into modern cars enjoy it also, but those just aren't my thing).
Friday was less crowded and exposed me to that amazing encounter experience I recounted somewhere here before.

 

IIRC, Alice's is not on Hwy 17 or even near it, but rather at intersection of 35 & 84, right ?

 

Correct. Though 17 is one of the ways back from the coast that nice you roll past Alice’s to go to the coast and drive south, especially if you are in the South Bay. <- That was a hell of a run-on sentence. [emoji23]


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The 456/550/575 brotherhood are meeting around noon tomorrow (thursday) at Canepa’s and then grabbing lunch….hosting Aerosurfer from out of town — here on a layover to meet a few of us IRL.

 

Yes, Alice's is located at "4 corners", the intersection of Skyline (35), and 84. 84 leads out West towards the Coast, and San Gregorio, where the General Store is.
There is gas at Alice's and also in Pescadero, which is about 7 miles south of San Gregorio. The gas station in Pescadero is the one with the tacos!

 

As mentioned before, I really enjoyed all the roads up there and made a brief pitstop at Alice's, but did bother with eating (I have somewhat discerning diet and often carry my own food on roadtrips).
Parking lots around Alice's didn't offer any excitement for me since just about all rides were outside of my personal interest.
I even encountered a winery up there, closer to 17, but they weren't open for tasting that day (Friday).

 

I frequent Alices but drive from Coastside. Skyline is littered with Cops who gave me a ticket for 6mph over the limit at one time. Also a wonderful coffee shop when you reach Pescadero (Downtown Local).
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is there a downtown half moon bay?

 

There is a "downtown" HMB, just slightly south of 92, on Main Street. It's usually jamn packed though with the touristy set, or even the locals.

 

Couple miles north is El Granada, on the way there is Sam’s with awesome clam chowder, great beers at HMB brewery downtown ElGranada and Barbara’s fishtrap across the street. Meza Luna Italian is not too bad and the new Blue Ocean brewing down the street towards the ocean is a nice surprise. We skip HMB these days due to too many tourists, El Granada is usually quieter.
Walk the harbor and buy some fresh fish/crabs of th boats.
Have fun out there!

 

And even a few more miles north is the Distillery. The restaurant has been there a very long time, has great views of the ocean, and is one of my favorite places in that area. Not generally visited by throngs of tourists so usually can get right in for a great lunch.

 

All the roads are not perfect. I've encountered some imperfections that made me cringe. Hwy 84 is the most direct route up the hill (you end up at Alice's), but it has a section of washed-out lane and a 10-minute signal for interval shared single lane. Someday, it'll be fixed. There are also some sections where water runoff wets the road and narrow lanes. You can also go HWY 92 to Skyline south. Same thing as far as road surfaces.

I agree. Go on weekdays or very early weekends. The food has been really good. On one occasion, I had the best Mahi Mahi tacos north of Maui!

 

be careful on skyline, the police know this one for sure