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<\/a>\u201cLooks like we\u2019re gonna have to build us a place if we want to hear music in this town,\u201d Jim has been quoted as saying. He imagined a place like the ones back home near Philadelphia, where he and his friends\u2014James Taylor, Arlo Guthrie and others\u2014could sit around and play together for those who gathered.<\/p>\n
Twelve years later Ingrid, an avid cook who had started a small a restaurant in Hillcrest, was shown a street level space in the Keating Building, the exact location where she and Jim had stopped years before.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was an omen,\u201d she has said.<\/p>\n
Although she only made $18 \u2013 $20 per day in those early days because it took two years to get her ABC liquor license, Croce\u2019s Restaurant and Jazz Bar has now been in operation at that very same corner for nearly 30 years.<\/p>\n However, as a famous family friend would say, \u201cthe times, they are a changing,\u201d because as of December 31, 2013\u2014due to a collapse in contact negotiations with the Keating Building\u2019s landlords earlier this year\u2014the historic venue will sing it\u2019s last song.<\/p>\n Thankfully, it\u2019s not the last song for Ingrid Croce. Later this month she and her husband of 25 years, Jimmy Rock, will be launching an invitation-only soft opening for their new venture\u2014Croce\u2019s Park West\u2014just two miles up Fifth Avenue in Bankers Hill.<\/p>\n It is a bittersweet time for the famed restaurateur.<\/p>\n \u201cI dream about it every night, but last night especially,\u201d she said. \u201cI guess having only 30 days left is really coming to a finale for me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe denial is over,\u201d Rock chimed in.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re excited about the ending of Croce\u2019s \u2013 because I think we\u2019ve done a great job Downtown,\u201d she added. \u201cI think that we\u2019ve really helped to build Downtown and we\u2019re really excited about helping to build and inspire by bringing [Croce\u2019s] spark up to Bankers Hill.<\/p>\n Already, previous employees have been stopping by, Croce fans from across the miles have been dropping in to mark the visit off of their bucket list, and musicians have been playing their last gigs.<\/p>\n Over the years, adjoining spaces along Fifth Avenue have hosted other Croce endeavors, including the Top Hat Bar and Grill and Ingrid\u2019s Cantina, but it was the original restaurant and jazz bar that has continued to thrive for three decades.<\/p>\n \u201cCroce\u2019s Downtown is truly a magical place,\u201c Rock said. \u201cIt has that energy of Jim and Ingrid walking across that intersection many, many years ago \u2026 so it has that charm to it and that spirit to it and we really hope we can take that spirit of Jim north with us to Park West. He is our guiding light and our guiding spirit and we\u2019re hoping we can pull that forward.\u201d<\/p>\n The original intention, the couple explained, was to open a second location and keep the \u201cflagship\u201d location Downtown. They have considered opening additional Croce\u2019s restaurants in different locations around the county for several years, but said the idea of opening one in their own Bankers Hill neighborhood happened purely by accident.<\/p>\n \u201cThree years ago Jim and I went up to Avenue 5 during the black-out,\u201d Croce said. \u201cIt was so charming to have all of our neighbors there in the candlelight. You couldn\u2019t really get much food because it was so dark in the kitchen, but we sat down and Jim said to me, \u2018You know Ing, wouldn\u2019t it be a fabulous neighborhood location for us to build a restaurant?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The very next day while on a run through Balboa Park, Croce said she called Colin MacLaggan, Avenue 5\u2019s Chef and owner, to ask if he was interested in selling the restaurant. She said he was and negotiations started immediately.<\/p>\n Rock said the ongoing development of Downtown in recent years has changed the dynamic for the original location.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Ingrid started Downtown her whole thing was to build community, and it worked for a long time but then it just became something else,\u201d Rock said. \u201cIt really got to be about conventions and tourism and locals really don\u2019t like going Downtown because of the parking and the crowds.<\/p>\n \u201cSo now that we are losing one Downtown we\u2019re excited about the fact that we\u2019re doing something that\u2019s community oriented,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Rock and Croce have decades of memories from the location, including the memory of the day they met, the days when the surrounding streets were rife with drugs and prostitution, and the rattlesnake and eggs breakfast at Ingrid\u2019s Cantina.<\/p>\n \u201cA.J. [Croce, Ingrid\u2019s son who is now an award-winning musician in his own ritht] began his career there,\u201d Rock said. \u201cWhen he was just 15 years old he worked on his act and before we were allowed to have a microphone he would just shout over the music. Arlo Guthrie used to come support us in the early days, too.\u201d<\/p>\n Croce said she hopes everyone who ever wanted to come see the restaurant\u2014world-renown not only for its fine food and music but also as a moving tribute to her late husband\u2014makes their way to its 802 Fifth Avenue location in this last month of operation. Those who have gift cards are encouraged to redeem them as well.<\/p>\n \u201cThis month is really going to be poignant; a lot of tears, a lot of hugs and a lot of saying goodbye to the location,\u201d she said. \u201cOnce it\u2019s closed, there will never be another Croce\u2019s like this one.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>