Another long-vacant downtown SLO business is getting a new tenant. What is CJ’s BBQ?
Suddenly, those vacant downtown San Luis Obispo spots are filling up fast.
After vintage store Thrifty Beaches announced it was expanding into Beverly’s Fabrics & Crafts on Higuera Street, a new sign turned up on the window of what previously was Mo’s Smokehouse BBQ at 1005 Monterey St.
The sign was for a pending California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control application for a beer and wine license for a CJ’s BBQ Smokehouse, owned by company Koolmex.
According to the application, the primary agent and owner of the company was listed as Christopher Patterson, who operates a CJ’S BBQ in Oxnard.
Patterson appears to have previously operated another CJ’s location in Ventura, but that has since shuttered.
Details on the new restaurant are scarce — the website for the Oxnard location appeared offline as of Thursday and the last post on its Instagram page was from 2018. A Tribune request for comment from Patterson was not immediately returned Thursday.
Work appeared to be ongoing in the space as of Thursday, with the restaurant’s new name painted across the front of the building.
Mo’s BBQ permanent closed its downtown doors in December 2022. The barbecue spot had been a San Luis Obispo institution for nearly three decades.
This story was originally published August 26, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
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