On Seaside's Broadway, the Storefronts Got There Before the Street Plan

"We want Broadway to look good." A city worker said that to Edible Monterey Bay in September at Deli Boys, the new sandwich shop at 530 Broadway Ave. It was the shop's fifth day open. City employees, friends of the staff and technicians from the nearby auto complex filled the room, and the shop had already sold out early on several days.

The worker's wish is coming true, though not the way most people expected. The city's own plan to rebuild Broadway's sidewalks and lanes is still on paper. Meanwhile, between June and September 2026, the businesses on the street did the work themselves. A family market finished a renovation that ran years over schedule. A family bakery put its history on its wall. A new sandwich shop opened with bread from that same bakery. Each change made the next one stronger.

A six-to-eight-month renovation that took nearly four years

Mi Tierra Mercado y Taqueria at 1000 Broadway Ave. closed for renovations in 2022. The work was supposed to take six to eight months. It took close to four years. On June 12, 2026, it reopened. Monterey County NOW reported a line that ran out the door and into the parking lot.

Little of the old store remains besides the barrel roof. The taqueria has moved to the front of the building. That freed space for a larger carnicería and a large refrigerated produce room, plus a new panadería that sells pan dulce and churros. What used to be an asphalt parking lot is now an outdoor dining area.

General manager Maria Esquivel told Monterey County NOW that the crowds stayed after opening week. Only the waits got shorter:

"I wouldn't say the lines have died down. They're just a little more manageable. The line at the taqueria has been consistent."

She named tacos and burritos as the most popular items, especially al pastor. She also said the new bakery counter is "growing little by little." That's a modest goal for a street that already has a well-known panadería a short walk away.

Two weeks later, a mural at Lupita's

On June 29, 2026, the corner at Lupita's Bakery, 1048 Broadway Ave., held its own celebration. The Arts Council for Monterey County commissioned a mural there with a grant from the City of Seaside, and Arts4MC's write-up describes it as the city's newest public art piece.

Seaside artist Jorge Torres of Better Days Sign Co. painted it to read from left to right. On the left are mountains, village forms and wheat for San Pablo, Oaxaca, where the family's baking began. In the center is a sun portrait of Lupita, crowned with white calla lilies, her favorite flower, with traditional bread below her. On the right, the scene turns into Seaside's coastal hills. Brothers Allen and Tommy Morales now run the bakery, and the bakery's own history describes them carrying on the family business.

The mayor and the city manager came to the unveiling. Local musician Cesar Flores played, and guests ate pastries from Lupita's ovens. The city paid for paint on a private wall. That was public money going straight to a single Broadway storefront, and it happened while the larger street project was still waiting for its turn.

The roll that comes from up the street

Deli Boys opened about three months after Mi Tierra. Its owners already have followings around the Peninsula. Chris Elkins runs Central Coastan Pizza and Alejandro Tuesta runs Oli's Cheesesteaks, both mobile food businesses. They opened a storefront after losing their shared commercial kitchen in downtown Monterey. Elkins summed up the decision in a quote Edible Monterey Bay printed with one word bleeped out.

What ties Deli Boys to the rest of the street is its bread. The shop worked with Lupita's Bakery on a custom bolillo, a torta-style roll made softer, closer to milk bread. So the newest business on Broadway builds every sandwich on bread from a family bakery up the same street, a bakery that had just unveiled its mural.

The opening menu, as Edible Monterey Bay reported it on Sept. 22:

• The Seasider, $16.99. Tuesta's creation, with roast beef, salami, provolone, lettuce, cucumber, tomato, pickle, red onion, oregano, and oil and vinegar.
• The 95012, listed as coming soon. It's named for Castroville's zip code, where Elkins' late father ran Central Texan BBQ. Turkey, mortadella, grilled chicken, Havarti, arugula, marinated artichoke hearts, pesto aioli, onion, tomato and balsamic glaze.
• Build-your-own. Hand-picked meats and cheeses such as Fromani rosemary ham and Fiscalini farmhouse cheddar.

Hours during the soft opening were 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays. Soft-opening schedules tend to change, so check with the shop before you plan lunch around it. Seaside city engineer Andreas Baer, who built himself a salami sandwich with sprouts, lettuce, tomato and onion, called it "great sandwich, nice and big, filled me up." It's fitting that the person whose job covers the streets was eating in one of the businesses changing this one.

The businesses that were already here

These three openings didn't land on an empty street. Several businesses along Broadway already had their own reputations before 2026. The table gives the most recent dated evidence for each, so you know how current the information is.

Maligne first joined Michelin's California Bib Gourmand list in 2023. The 2026 guide still includes it, which makes it one of the few Seaside restaurants Michelin has kept recognizing year after year. Bib Gourmand is Michelin's category for good food at moderate prices. It is a different honor from a star. Deja Blue's live music page lists late jazz every weekend, at 10 p.m. Fridays and 11 p.m. Saturdays, so this part of Broadway stays open long after Deli Boys closes at 3. Congo Go! serves Cambodian dishes along with boba and baked goods. The Kun sisters opened it in March 2024.

The street plan is still catching up

All of this happened while the city's own Broadway project was still in planning. In a March 2025 packet, the Transportation Agency for Monterey County described the Broadway Avenue Complete Street project as in final design, with a request for federal funds to start construction sooner. An earlier TAMC announcement had expected construction to begin in 2023. We couldn't find any published start date since then, so this post doesn't assume work has begun.

The street's name works the same way. In 2010 the city approved "Obama Way" as a second, commemorative name for Broadway between Del Monte Avenue and General Jim Moore Boulevard. The Monterey Herald clarified at the time that Broadway remained the official name. Sixteen years later, Edible Monterey Bay used both names, placing Deli Boys "on the west end of Obama Way/Broadway Avenue."

So the new sidewalks and lanes are still coming. In the meantime, a bakery, a market and a sandwich shop have given people reasons to walk this street now.

Three more dates this fall

• Oct. 9 and 10: After Hours Live Jazz at Deja Blue, 500 Broadway Ave.
• Oct. 25: Los Hermanos Vega play a Son Jarocho concert at the Palenke Arts Teen Arts Center, 530 Elm Ave.
• Oct. 30, 6 to 9 p.m.: The City of Seaside's Halloween Bonanza at Oldemeyer Center, 986 Hilby Ave., with games, a haunted house, crafts and a costume contest.

When a family business reinvests on a street like Broadway, the change shows up in more places than the storefront. The team at J.R. Rouse follows these corridors closely because daily life on a block like this shapes how homeowners nearby talk about where they live. If you'd like a seasoned local view on what Broadway's changes mean for your part of Seaside, schedule a free consultation.