Business 12-24
Cali Green, a clothing production company founded in 2002 by Chris Scott and Miguel Rocha, opened its first retail outlet at 1 West Ortega Street this month, almost seven months after Rocha’s death in a hit-and-run car collision in Vernon, California, at the age of 26. The Santa Barbara shop’s several owners are longtime members of the company.
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COGI, begun in March 2007 and headquartered on outer State Street, launched its speech-to-text virtual notetaking service-which works “on any phone on any network”-in early December and almost simultaneously was selected as “one of the 10 technology start-ups to watch” by the Los Angeles-based technology-and-media event Twiistup. COGI-the product name as well as the company name-was cofounded by tech sector veterans Bob Dolan, Mark Cromack, and Palmer Jackson.
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Matador-the tapas restaurant opened at 714 State Street in early 2008 by UCSB alum Joan Vasquez-closed on 12/13 with an email to fans explaining that “our current location and lease is not working out, especially in this very difficult economy.” Vasquez said that she would be looking for another downtown location, but meanwhile, she auctioned off all of her equipment-successfully, so somebody’s still hoping to make a go of it.
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After doing business at 718 State Street for more than a decade, Fatburger closed, apparently in haste, leaving two notes in the window: One said that it had been a pleasure to serve Palmdale and another, from the Sheriff’s Department, announced that the property had been “restored to the landlord” on 12/18, presumably by court order. A Sheriff spokesperson said the restaurant had failed to pay rent. (The sign was later replaced with one that read “Santa Barbara.”)
Elements Restaurant and Bar, on Anapamu Street, has begun conducting part of its business via the Internet, offering an online store that features the eatery’s wine list, which includes both international and Santa Barbara County offerings. The announcement is notable in that online wine sales are more commonly conducted in connection with wineries or wine shops and not restaurants.
