After months of closure, Once Upon a Sandwich announced its official sale to new owners Thursday. The establishment, with its mom and pop origins hiding behind a yellow exterior and thatched roof, has been a mainstay of Cortez’s Main Street since 1990.
“It was old and crowded, but it was part of Cortez, what the old Cortez was,” former Mayor Mike Lavey said.
Lavey and his wife, Gail, frequented the joint while it was under the original ownership of Carolyn and Rick Hessom. In 2024, the Hessoms retired and sold the restaurant to Cameron and Kari Watson, who revamped it with a fantastical theme.
The Watsons put the eatery on the market in April this year and, after 41 days, it sold for $390,000. They declined The Journal’s request for an interview.
Pennie Sanford, who’s owned Pippo’s Cafe on Main Street for 28 of its 68 years, has witnessed many periods of change in downtown Cortez, including the closing of El Grande Cafe and numerous retail pop-ups.
“People take over the same buildings, and they seem to put stuff in there,” Sanford said. “Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.”
But her restaurant, with its homely Americana aesthetic, has remained, surviving through word-of-mouth recommendations and community support. The cafe, which plans to celebrate 70 years in 2028, evokes a working class atmosphere dominated by laborers and families seeking a spot to wind down and enjoy classic comfort food and coffee.
When Lavey first moved to Cortez in 1990, mom and pop operations like Once Upon A Sandwich, El Grande Cafe and Pippo’s dominated Main Street. Now there’s a mix of newer businesses bringing more modern designs and a wider variety of food options to the center of town.
“It’s nice having the new places with their young, upscale clientele, and having the old places where you could go and feel comfortable and have a good meal,” Lavey said.
Helen West, Cortez’s community and economic development specialist, said she’s been delighted to see Main Street more populated by businesses in recent years.
“I am very happy that, in the last couple years, we've also seen more infill in our downtown district,” West said. “We're seeing more boutiques and experiential kind of places to go shop, which is somewhat of a return to that '70s and '80s community.”
Local businesses – particularly restaurants – can face a plethora of challenges, from limited patronage to a short tourism season, West said.
“We have a mixed income community, but relatively low on the socioeconomic scale when compared to the rest of Colorado. So restaurants are already struggling, and we are a very seasonal area pertaining to tourism,” she said.
However, she said she’s been impressed with the ability of legacy businesses – those that have run through generations of owners – and new operations alike to thrive in the small, rural community.
“I'm actually surprised that we don't have more turnover, especially in our restaurants,” West said, citing the success of more contemporary businesses like Loungin’ Lizard and Stonefish Sushi.
Keeping long term businesses alive is particularly important to Cortez residents who admire the area for its small-town Western feel, West said.
“These businesses not only provide steady jobs, but years of trusted credibility within the community, long term community memory, and knowledge to our business community,” West said. “And they also anchor that community in a shared cultural heritage.”
Lavey will always miss the Hessom’s era at Once Upon A Sandwich. For him, it was the people that kept him coming back every Sunday after church for some chat and a green chili stew.
“It wasn't convenient to get in there. It was narrow and crowded. It wasn't high class, but it felt so comfortable, and we never left that place without feeling uplifted,” Lavey said. “It's like jumping back in time for a while, and then visiting your relatives – your aunt and uncle and your friends.”
The restaurant won’t remain “Once Upon A Sandwich.” New owners Paul Adams and Paul Beekler applied for a liquor license from the city under the name “Pitchers on Main LLC.” While they have yet to release their plans, they face months of anticipation, and a few predictions.
“I think that people are trying to get back to that kind of atmosphere: the small town, home cooked food, friendly kind of place, and I think that more of them are probably going to start popping up,” Sanford said. “Maybe, who knows?”
avanderveen@the-journal.com
