Rancho Santa Fe Village took on more new tenants this year than it has in a long while, and almost none of them came with a new building. A pizza and gelato shop, a makeup bar, a design studio, a refreshed Italian restaurant and a sandwich counter have all moved into rooms that were already there. Several of those rooms sit behind facades Lilian Rice designed in the 1920s. On Paseo Delicias, change happens indoors because the street-facing side of the Village is the one thing nobody gets to redo casually.
That explains the scaffolding with no new rooflines and the landmark plaques hanging next to brand-new signs. It also explains why the one Village project drawing public review this month is about a courtyard.
The first schoolhouse now serves lamb lollipops
Begin at the building where the town's schooling started. The San Diego Union-Tribune's Rancho Santa Fe Review reported that the home of Paseo was the first Rancho Santa Fe School. Its first graduation came in 1924, and the class had one student. The Rancho Santa Fe Historical Society's self-guided tour credits that first school to Lilian Rice and Hammond Whitsitt.
Over the years the space held The Pantry and then the Rancho Santa Fe Bistro. Mozy Jahanguiri ran the Bistro for 12 years. Jennifer Fields, a resident who had been one of his steadiest regulars, took over on Nov. 1, 2025. She put more than $800,000 into the interior: new paint, fixtures and furnishings, with the Bistro's wine racks and cabinetry taken out to fit more tables. The brick and exposed wood beams stayed where they were.
A year later her second concept is open close by. Paseo Pizza and Gelato, at 6024 Paseo Delicias, Unit D, makes 18 signature pies, rotating gelato flavors and its own craft beer, and it's open daily from noon to 9 p.m. The grand opening on Sept. 25 and 26 included a kids' carnival with face painting and a balloon artist. Menus and online ordering are at paseopizzarsf.com. In the same complex, Make Me Up RSF opened in Suite I with an Aug. 27 grand opening. Delorine Jackson, Gina Resch and Shirley Slee founded it.
A century of tenants, one set of walls
Look at the buildings themselves and the Village starts to read as a short list of shells that keep getting reused.
| Building | Built | Earlier lives | This fall |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Rancho Santa Fe School | First graduation in 1924 | Schoolhouse, The Pantry, Rancho Santa Fe Bistro | Paseo, after an interior overhaul of more than $800,000 |
| Francisco Building, 6015 Paseo Delicias | 1923 | Santa Fe Land Improvement Company offices, Ashley's Market, then vacant for over four years | Second location of Intimate Living Interiors, planned for a September opening |
| Millar building, Paseo Delicias at La Granada | 1920s | Millar family home, Delicias for 24 years, briefly Ponsaty's | Nick & G's, closing in mid-October for a full redesign |
| Spurr-Clotfelter Row House, Paseo Delicias | 1926 | One of five shared-wall courtyard homes | Proposed addition going before the Art Jury |
The Francisco Building may be the clearest example. Rice designed it, and it went up in 1923 as part of the first block of Rancho Santa Fe's civic center. A plaque on the front marks it as a local landmark. It sat empty for more than four years. In 2022 there was a plan to turn it into a cafe and gourmet market. The Union-Tribune reported in July that Intimate Living Interiors, which has been on Cedros Avenue in Solana Beach for 21 years, got the building as a "raw, empty shell." The firm added arched doorways and dark wooden beams on the finished ceiling. Kari Arendsen described the new space as roughly 80% design studio and 20% retail, with furniture, lighting, antiques, textiles and the firm's own candles and home scents. The company listed September as its target opening.
Nick & G's is bringing an olive tree indoors
The biggest interior project this season is on the corner of Paseo Delicias and La Granada. The Union-Tribune says this Lilian Rice building dates to the 1920s and was originally the home of the Millar family, one of the earliest families in Rancho Santa Fe. Delicias ran there for 24 years. Sandra DiCicco-Bonar of the Grand Restaurant Group opened Nick & G's in 2017 and named it after her children, Nicolas and Gianina.
With its 10th anniversary coming up, the restaurant planned to close in mid-October and reopen in November with new dining, bar, patio and private event spaces. The new menu is California-Italian, with handmade pastas, pizzas and seasonal shared plates. Chef and partner Alex Carballo's design takes its cue from the Amalfi Coast, with yellows, oranges and blues. An olive tree will grow at the center of the dining room, and a new wine cellar will give a view through to a lighter bar and lounge. Carballo described the goal to the Rancho Santa Fe Review this way:
"In Rancho Santa Fe you already get that amongst the trees and beautiful Spanish architecture… to enter the restaurant you will see and feel the difference, feel the warmth and nature."
Carballo means for the change to be something you notice once you walk through the door. From the sidewalk, the corner will look the way it always has.
Why the change stays behind the doors
There's a structural reason the pattern keeps repeating. The Rancho Santa Fe Association says its Art Jury reviews building and development applications to protect community character. The Association's Village commercial guidelines call for architectural approval and an Association building permit before major construction. According to the Historical Society, the Association designated the Civic Center a Local Historic District. Rice was the Santa Fe Land Improvement Company's resident supervisory architect and directed the design of that civic center. Her work is the reference point every new idea gets measured against.
Even the Village's one new building follows that rule. The expanded Rancho Santa Fe Pharmacy, owned by Jason Sabouri, is going up on the vacant corner lot at El Tordo and La Granada, across from its current location. The approved design is a 4,466-square-foot building in the Lilian Rice style with rooftop parking. As of late June it was still described as under construction.
Across that intersection, Rancho Sandwich and Creamery shows how much work goes into an interior-only project. Owner Chris Miller turned an underused conference room in the corner of his bank building at 6110 El Tordo into a counter serving breakfast, sandwiches and soft serve. He told the Union-Tribune that permits from six different county and state entities took a year, and the work included a new plumbing system. The pineapple Dole Whip sells out every couple of days. The shop is open Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The courtyard is where the line gets tested
Since change in the Village stays indoors, any addition that would show from outside gets a careful look. The Rancho Santa Fe Post reported that the Spurr-Clotfelter Row House on Paseo Delicias was scheduled to go before the Art Jury at its monthly meeting this Tuesday, Oct. 20. The proposal adds 1,600 square feet, including a second story, which would more than double the size of the 1,500-square-foot home. Rice designed it in 1926 as one of five shared-wall courtyard homes, all attributed to her, and the Post identifies it as one of the National Register-listed row homes.
This is not the project's first trip to the Art Jury. A contemporary two-story design that showed a second story from the street was denied in 2022. A second design was deferred in 2025. In July of this year the current jury deferred it again and asked for less height, square footage and footprint so that Rice's center courtyard stays intact. The Post points out that other row houses on the block were expanded years ago toward the back, out of sight from the street. It also explains that the Art Jury and San Diego County answer to different documents, so owners of historic properties need approvals from both.
The Village's quieter neighbor follows the same approach. At the Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club, the clubhouse restaurant renovation has moved past wood rot and plumbing behind the walls. It's now in the finish stage, with wood flooring, wall finishes and restroom tile going in, aiming for a fall opening. The kitchen has received a temporary certificate of occupancy so staff training can begin. The snack bar is aiming for year's end. On Oct. 1 the Association board approved an $850,000 entrance plaza, funded entirely by the golf club, with completion targeted for the first week of February 2027. Director of agronomy Tom Huesgen named a wet El Niño winter as his biggest scheduling worry.
Fall dates in and around the Village
Two of these events put you inside historic spaces, and the other two are close by:
- Saturday, Oct. 24, 5 to 8 p.m. The Rancho Santa Fe Historical Society's Fandango Street Party at La Flecha House on Via de Santa Fe, according to the Rancho Santa Fe Review's events listing. The Society finished repairs to the house's courtyard and building last year.
- Thursday, Oct. 29, 6 p.m. Inn After Dark, an adults-only Halloween night at The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe with themed spaces, live music, cocktails and a costume contest.
- Oct. 30 through Nov. 22. Cirque Ma'Ceo, an equestrian theatrical show at Del Mar Horsepark.
- Thursday, Nov. 19. The Rancho Santa Fe Garden Club's Holiday Brunch at the Secret Garden, with a talk titled "An Expert Arborist's Guide to Healthy Trees & Plants."
Nothing here is legal or tax advice. If you own a historic property, check your own situation with the Association and a qualified professional before planning any work.
Travis spends a lot of time helping owners decide which parts of an older coastal home to leave alone and where a careful interior update pays off. If you'd like to talk through a project in a Rice-era home, or just compare notes on the Village's new spots, Beach and Sun Homes is glad to help. Schedule a Call.
