Kim Solano stands in the back room that forms the social club, a part of her business, in May 2025 at 7902 Moss Landing Road in Moss Landing. (Sana Dadani — Santa Cruz Local)

MOSS LANDING >> Kim Solano didn’t think much of the blaring alarm at first. Coming from just over half a mile away, across Moss Landing Harbor and down Highway 1, it intruded upon the birds chirping and wind rustling through the tall green carrizo reeds tucked among a variety of potted plants sitting around the property of her Mexican restaurant. 

But it was not loud enough for her to stop what she was doing that afternoon in 2025.

When the alarm didn’t stop, she stepped onto the patio from the kitchen and saw flames rising high above two 500-foot smokestacks at Vistra Corp.’s power plant. 

Heavy smoke began to fill her restaurant, The Haute Enchilada Cafe, Gallery & Social Club. Tables once full of chewing and chattering customers emptied as guests piled into their cars and drove off. 

The Jan. 16 fire began around 3 p.m. By 4 p.m., she had closed the restaurant and headed home with her husband Luis to start checking in with friends.

The first notification came from the county around 4:30 p.m. as a message on her phone, advising residents to evacuate. With a big land tortoise living on the restaurant’s property and a poodle named Quinto to think about, Solano said she chose to not evacuate from her home near Moss Landing Marine Lab. She would later regret this decision after she and Luis developed dry eyes and a cough serious enough that a doctor prescribed her an inhaler.

Solano had her first panic attack that night, she said. She would go on to suffer a few more throughout 2025.

When the California Public Utilities Commission approved Vistra’s request in 2018 to transform Pacific Gas & Electric Co.’s natural gas power plant into one of the world’s largest battery energy storage facilities, there was some opposition from locals and county leaders — but also enthusiasm toward transitioning the region towards renewable energy.

Smoke rises the day after a fire broke out at Vistra Corp.’s battery storage facility at the Moss Landing power plant. (Nik Altenberg — Santa Cruz Local file)

Growing up in Aptos and later moving to Mexico, Solano occasionally helped out in her father’s restaurant, The Whole Enchilada, which closed in early 2024. In 2000, she opened and ran her own establishment nearby. Only after the fire did she consider the downsides to being near a battery storage facility.

“It was allowed to be placed in the heart of the protection sanctuary,” Solano said, referring to Elkhorn Slough, a protected estuary that is an essential habitat for more than 700 animal species, including the endangered Santa Cruz long-toed salamander and the threatened California red-legged frog.

The fire burned through the night and was nearly extinguished by the morning, but it kicked up again midday for about an hour and then continued to smolder. Firefighters could do nothing but watch and wait for the fire to burn down, because water reacts with lithium batteries chemically and would make the fire worse.  

Evacuation orders were lifted that day, but Solano felt she couldn’t ask her employees to risk their health by returning to work. She kept The Haute Enchilada closed for two weeks. She said she paid all of the employees during that time and urged them not to file for unemployment.

On Feb. 18, she was forced to shut down again when flames reignited at the plant after lithium batteries in an area that had previously burned caught fire. The blaze burned itself out the next morning, along with Solano’s energy and will to ever fully reopen again.

Anxiety over the future

Solano reopened the art gallery and social club in early March, but kept the restaurant closed.

She started scheduling private events and accepting reservations for five Airbnb rentals she had set up on the 1.5-acre property.

But anxiety over the lasting impact on her family and what they had worked for, she said, was a constant companion. 

“No one can tell me there’s not going to be [another fire],” she said. She smiled through tears and let out a small, short laugh. “I’m good, this is who I am now.”

The Moss Landing power plant’s smokestacks are visible from Kim Solano’s property. (Sana Dadani — Santa Cruz Local)

In the wake of the fire, Solano said fewer people seemed to be visiting the area. She would normally get more people stopping by the restaurant on their drive up and down Highway 1. Solano chose to no longer source ingredients from nearby farms, scared of the smoke’s impact on the soil, plants and animals. And there wasn’t enough business coming in to support a full staff.

Filing an insurance claim was not a viable option, according to Solano, since her property had no burn spots or debris. The damage wasn’t visible, except in environmental data she and a community group called Never Again Moss Landing found from wiping surfaces to test for the presence of heavy metals after the fires.

Solano and her husband filed a lawsuit in late February against Vistra, seeking monetary damages.

Her thoughts circle back to how hard it was to close multiple times a restaurant with a fridge full of fresh produce and private events scheduled ahead — an ordeal she thought was behind her after the Covid-19 pandemic ended. Her business never fully recuperated after the pandemic, she said.

“It’s like cancer remission,” she said, referring to repeatedly closing down her business. “Not if it’s going to happen again, it’s just when.”

Retirement had been on the horizon for Solano, 70, and her 80-year-old husband. Their plan was to either sell the restaurant and live in their home nearby, or sell their home and live on the restaurant’s property.

After the fire reignited in February, she said she spoke with a real estate agent who told her the value of her property had fallen. 

At first, Solano had yet to decide if selling was still the best option. In 2026, she closed down the social club and turned it into a makeshift apartment where she and her husband now live. She will be renting out her actual home in the meantime.

Heartbeat of community

In the wake of the fire, many residents were outraged and felt that state and federal agencies weren’t doing adequate testing of the soil, air and water around the power plant. That’s when the resident-led group Never Again Moss Landing formed, conducting its own environmental tests and attending local meetings to pressure leaders on safety and to oppose new proposals for battery energy storage systems in the area. 

Solano hosted one of the group’s meetings in May, her poodle Quinto by her side as she provided chips and salsa.

Residents attend a Never Again Moss Landing meeting at Kim Solano’s restaurant and social club in May 2025. (Sana Dadani — Santa Cruz Local)

She has continued to support Never Again Moss Landing’s advocacy, hosting the group again in her restaurant on the one year anniversary of the fire in January. She believes it is her obligation to her community. 

“This is our whole life,” Solano said. “We have a multigenerational life here.” Her father died at the end of 2023 at the age of 94. Her daughter lives next door to Solano’s house with a husband and son. 

In the warmer months, tourists have returned to the area, but not enough for Solano to consider opening up full time again. For now, she continues renting out the restaurant and art gallery for private events and communicates any changes with customers through an email newsletter.

Routine problems common to restaurants continue to impact her business, like a water leak last spring. She said no stress will ever top feeling let down by the agencies responsible for the community’s safety.

“We don’t really know who’s got our back,” she said.

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