The biggest change in downtown Cotati this year happened inside two buildings whose new owners promised to keep them as they were. In January, the 8 Ball and Spancky's both sold to new local owners. Between them, the two bars go back to 1937 and 1911. The new restaurants planned for La Plaza, the ones that would make the downtown look different from the sidewalk, were still working through city review in the latest reporting, from March, and neither has been confirmed open.
So for now, Cotati's revival runs on old rooms. If you're planning an evening around La Plaza Park this October, that's useful to know before you head out.
Two bars, two sales, one January
The 8 Ball opened in 1937. It still has its low ceiling and its oddly sized doors. In January, Julie LaMalfa Black, Jenafer Keys and Audrey De Vere Hunt announced they had bought it, making it a woman-owned and woman-led tavern. Their slogan for the soft opening on Feb. 28 was "The girls are calling the shots."
None of the three is new to the room. Black had tended bar at the 8 Ball for eight years before the sale. The Press Democrat reported that she, Black, and De Vere Hunt have more than 30 years of bartending between them, in San Francisco, Petaluma and Cotati. Black explained it simply: "Alan wanted to sell, and the three of us girls hit him up for it." She was talking about Alan Troxel, who had owned the bar for a year after Brian Tatko and Greg Johnson.
Spancky's changed hands that same month, a little way down the street. Kevin Gingher sold it to Cheryl Cruz and her husband, Bill Katsaros, who manages the bar. The building opened in 1911 as the Cotati House, an inn and roadhouse for travelers. Once U.S. Highway 101 routed traffic away from Cotati, it went through several names, including Sophie's. Along the way it booked Van Morrison, Neil Young, Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead, and Arlo Guthrie.
Cruz and Katsaros told the Press Democrat they had spent about 10 years looking for a bar to own together. Cruz has more than four decades in local banking. Katsaros's family ran Santa Rosa's Trophy Room for about 40 years.
What the new owners promised to leave alone
Both groups of buyers said much the same thing: they would keep things as they were. That's an unusual pitch for new owners, and it matters for regulars. A sale is often when a familiar bar gets gutted. In Cotati, both sales were framed as ways to keep the bars the same.
"They don't want to change anything, because Spancky's already works."
Bartender Katie Cole said that about her new bosses. She had known about the sale for months. The Press Democrat's March description of Spancky's matches. The inside has barely changed apart from new stools: a simple bar set around a live music stage, under a ceiling covered in dollar bills that customers have signed with initials and messages.
At the 8 Ball, De Vere Hunt put it this way: "It takes a long time for a bar to look the way this one does. We're not really going to change much." She said the previous owners had already done the work of making it a community space, and the bar "just needed a little facelift and some love."
The new owners did add a few things. At Spancky's, they kept a Trophy Room custom alive on St. Patrick's Day: free corned beef and cabbage "with all the fixings," in honor of Katsaros's father. Here's the weekly lineup each bar announced in late winter and early spring:
- 8 Ball: karaoke on Mondays, open mic on Tuesdays, and a plan to bring in rotating food trucks Thursday through Saturday to support local cooks
- Spancky's: a live DJ on Thursday nights, with hopes of starting a karaoke night and working with food trucks
Those schedules come from February and March reporting. Bar calendars change with the seasons, so check each bar's Facebook page before you plan a night around a particular event.
The Cotati Crawl, with fewer stops
The new owners make a difference to the street as a whole, not just to their own bars. At the 8 Ball, De Vere Hunt said she wanted the bar to take part in the Cotati Crawl again, which the Press Democrat said had slowed down in recent years. She framed it as a group effort: "We want to work together with our community to make sure it's safe." By March, the paper reported, the Crawl had resumed on Thursday nights, when Spancky's hosts a live DJ.
The Crawl that came back has fewer stops than the old one. Friar Tuck's and the Cotati Yacht Club used to be regular stops, and the Press Democrat lists both as closed. That puts more weight on the long-running bars that are still open, and it explains why their sales got so much attention in town.
The new rooms are still on paper
That attention also has to do with the restaurants, which haven't been confirmed open. Here's how the year has gone for the projects that would add something new downtown:
- January 20: Cotati's design review hearing on 8201 Old Redwood Highway, the former Inn of the Beginning. The plan adds a 400-square-foot bathroom and remodels the rear patio so the building can operate as a restaurant.
- March: Noah Housh, Cotati's community development director, says the city has received building permit applications for The Nightingale. It's a planned restaurant with a full bar in the former Flagship Taproom at 8099 La Plaza, near Mezzeluna, and the group asked for expedited review. Housh noted that restaurants serving alcohol don't need planning approvals in Cotati.
- March: Ayawaska's permit coordinator, Mesia Oswaldo, says the city has approved the initial permit for 8201 Old Redwood Highway. He says the Peruvian restaurant hopes to open within the year, once construction issues, including signage, are settled with the city's design review board.
- August 31: The Press Democrat reports that Screamin' Mimi's planned ice cream shop in Apple Valley Plaza, outside downtown, hasn't started construction. Its opening target has moved to fall or winter 2027.
As of early October, neither The Nightingale nor Ayawaska has been confirmed open. Ayawaska would be the third location after Petaluma and Novato. Oswaldo said the Cotati restaurant would offer patio dining, brunch and signature cocktails, with prices "in the same range" as the other two.
The Ayawaska building also shows how much Cotati cares about its old places. Greg Cochrane, a 22-year-old Sonoma State student, started the Inn of the Beginning in 1968 in a former Italian restaurant. According to local legend, a photo of Huey Lewis hung there for 20 years, from his time in the band Clover. Mark Braunstein owned the Inn in the 1970s and commissioned Fran Fleet to make its long wooden sign. John Dell'Osso, president of the Cotati Historical Society and a former mayor, said the society's main concern is the sign's place in Cotati's character, and that "something must be done promptly to preserve the sign and display it somewhere publicly."
The Community Voice reported that two planning commissioners, Kimberly Moffet and Ed Gilardi, said the new owners are excited about the sign's history and that "the sign is not going away." So far that's a promise. No public record yet shows where the sign will go.
October 10 is the plaza's next big afternoon
With neither new restaurant confirmed open, Cotati's next big downtown day takes place outdoors. Cotati Oktoberfest is on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, from 1 to 5 p.m. at La Plaza Park. The Cotati Chamber of Commerce and the Cotati Accordion Festival are putting it on. Admission is free. Polka Casserole will play, and German-style food and beer will be for sale. There's also a wiener dog race, costume contests, a stein-hold contest and a yodeling contest. Dog owners can download the race entry form from the Chamber's website.
The Accordion Festival's name on the flyer fits a year built on old institutions. The festival held its 35th edition in La Plaza Park on Aug. 15 and 16, with five stages. A statue of its co-founder, Jim Boggio, stands in the same park. Housh told the Press Democrat that the city's downtown strategy is to support events like these, along with the Cotati Music Festival in June and the Holiday Shop and Stroll in December.
The 8 Ball and Spancky's are both a short walk from the plaza. Liz Derammelaere, executive director of the Cotati Chamber of Commerce, credited the momentum to Cotati's "strong sense of community, its walkability, and the loyalty of local residents." This fall, that loyalty is showing up at two bars that sold this year to owners who promised to keep them as they were.
If you own a long-standing place in Cotati, whether that's a business building or a home with its own history, its story affects how you present it when the time comes. At Summer Olson Stubblefield, we'd love to hear about yours. Let's talk about your next move.
