Casa California, a traditional cafeteria that would be 98 years old, closes its doors in downtown SP

A small cafeteria founded almost a hundred years ago in downtown São Paulo has survived different economic crises, changes in administration, changes in mayors, governors and presidents and the degradation of the central region of the city. But not to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The coronavirus and the crisis generated by the quarantine ended the history of Casa California, an address that would have been 98 years old and that became known for the sandwiches made with sausages from Bragança Paulista. The point had its activities closed about a year ago.

Founded on Rua São Bento in 1924, the space emerged as a grocery store for dry goods. The products were mainly imported from California, in the United States – hence the name. The sandwich made with the traditional Bragantina sausage appeared there only in the 1960s, long before the sausage was gourmetized and popped up on the menus of bars and restaurants in São Paulo.

The tradition was maintained until the 1990s, when the address changed management and ended up becoming a regular cafeteria. Until, in 2012, the merchant Carlos Kley bought the point and rescued the recipe made with artisanal sausages from producers in Bragança Paulista, a city in the interior of São Paulo known as the sausage capital.

The cafeteria was frequented mainly by workers from the region. Before the pandemic, the owner was already facing other difficulties, such as the increase in the price of sausages and the drop in movement, but the Covid crisis worsened the situation.

“We closed for three months. Then we had to work with reduced hours, with expensive rent and without a client, because everyone was working from home”, says Kley. “I ended up with a lot of debt, the pandemic was just the shovel of lime. Without help from the state government, there was no way to continue.”

With difficulty maintaining the cafeteria, which had seven employees, Kley decided to permanently lower the doors in June last year. In place of the sign, there is a sign for rent. The space has been vacant ever since.