COMING HOME TO THE GALLEy AND THE ANDEDSON INN

Coming Home to the Galley
and The Anderson Inn
AN INTERVIEW WITH Dave Peter and Jeff Anderson
By Hilary Grant
I
t’s a movie moment where
even the most stoic adults tear up: Judy
Garland as Dorothy in the last scene of
the classic The Wizard of Oz.
started companion hotel upstairs – the two
may have discovered that coming home has
been their best move ever.
After journeying to the land over the rainbow, the farm girl has now awakened in her
own bed, magically returned to Kansas where
her family and friends are waiting. “You’re
all here!” she exclaims incredulously. “I’m
not going to leave here ever again – because
there’s no place like home!”
Dave Peter isn’t sitting down much these
days. Up by seven o’clock every morning, he
often doesn’t make it to bed until midnight.
The same might be said for Dave Peter and
Jeff Anderson.
Childhood chums in Morro Bay, both boys
grew up to leave what was then a mostly
small fishing village, bound in separate directions for adventures in bigger and flashier
places. Today, the pair is back. Indeed, with
Peter new owner of The Galley Seafood Grill
& Bar – a beloved Embarcadero landmark
that’s now been completely renovated – and
Anderson helming The Anderson Inn – a just
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Dave’s Story
Peter is also enjoying every minute of these
very long days. “Opening a restaurant has
always been my true passion,” he explains.
“It’s also been even more than that. I’ve always wanted to be grounded in a community,
be a part of that community, and give back to
that community.
“The new Galley is the anchor that’s allowed
our family to do that.”
It has been a circuitous path to realize the
restaurateur dream. Born in Riverside, Peter
moved to Morro Bay when he was four years
old after dad Gil accepted a job teaching math
at Cuesta College. On the day Peter turned
14 years old, work permit in hand, he began
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his first restaurant job – bussing tables at the original Galley for owner
Bud Anderson, Jeff ’s father.
“I had known the Anderson family as their paperboy,” says Peter. “I
also knew them from the restaurant, where we would sometimes go
for a special treat after a Little League game. In fact, it was after one
of those games in about 1974 when Bud asked me if I’d like to join The
Galley Farm League. That meant that once I turned 14, I could start
working for him as a busboy. I kept reminding him of this on a regular
basis while I delivered his papers!”
The Galley job stuck: Peter worked there through high school (he’s a
1980 Morro Bay High grad) and through his two years at Cuesta, eventually becoming a host and wine server.
“Bud Anderson was my first real business mentor,” says Peter. “It was
his passion for customer service, and the leadership he showed in
terms of how he treated and motivated his employees, that inspired
not only my desire to someday enter the restaurant business, but my
business career in general.”
Dave Peter in front of The Galley Restaurant
After Cuesta, Peter earned a Business Administration degree from San
Diego State University. “My lifelong dream had always been to return
to Morro Bay and open a waterfront restaurant,” he says. “But after
college, I first chose the ‘practical path’ in what was then the fast-growing technology industry.”
To that end, Peter’s first job out of SDSU was for a tech company in
San Diego. One year later, he was with a new firm in Germany, where
he met and married wife Aglaja. Perhaps anticipating the huge impact
computers and all of their accoutrements would have on our global
economy, the couple next relocated to the Bay Area, the heart of that
cutting-edge technology.
There they started their own small company, with son Julian born
in San Jose. Daughter Sanja came along two years later, but by this
time, the Peters had sold that enterprise and were in San Diego. Peter
continued to do consulting work and was also involved in two more
start-up companies – one of them was ultimately sold to computer
software giant Adobe.
In 1999, the family finally made it to Morro Bay.
For Peter, though, this newest move was more of a place to land while
working around the world. He had become a corporate vice president
for Boston-based Progress Software, first managing sales in the United
States for the publicly traded company, then in charge of the firm’s
European business – a step that had the entire family in Germany in
2002 and 2003.
Peter was still with Progress when he once again returned to Morro
Bay in 2003. Travel continued to be at the top of his agenda: this time,
running the company’s Asian concerns, Peter spent much of his time in
the Far East. He finally retired from technology in 2006, and took two
years off to focus on the plan for what would become the new Galley.
The project, however, had been on Peter’s mind for some time.
“It was 2002 and I had called the Andersons one evening from my office in Europe,” says Peter. “It’s something I regularly did, just checking
in and finding out how things were going. It was then that they first
shared their idea for what they wanted to do – one that would ultimately replace the old restaurant and lead to my involvement.”
The Anderson Family: Jeff, Mollie, Rita, Bud, and Rodger
These days, despite its $4 million renovation (that figure includes the
hotel), The Galley Seafood Grill & Bar is still, at heart, a family affair.
Peter’s wife Aglaja works alongside her husband and 16-year-old Julian
does kitchen prep. Following in her dad’s footsteps, Sanja is 14 and
bussing tables. And while the retro Hawaiian Island motif, spectacular
views of Morro Rock and great service all make for a special dining
experience, the food is perhaps the most important ingredient of all.
Purchasing wild-caught fish directly from Morro Bay fishermen is a priority, with seafood choices changing daily. Many of the entrees are also
served “naked,” with only a light sauce on the side – this way, says Peter,
customers can experience “the true taste of the best seafood available.”
In addition, all of the pesticide-free vegetables and produce come from
the Los Osos family farm of head chef Henry Galvez, who has more
than 30 years of experience as a chef and was instrumental in creatM A R C H
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ing the new Galley menu. Desserts here are a combination of both
comfort food and taste: there’s everything from an old-fashioned ice
cream sundae to dark chocolate cake to baked-in-the-kitchen cookies.
Wines are treated with care, too: stored in custom designed vaults
from France, the restaurant offers a cornucopia of offerings from award
winning Central Coast wineries and out-of-region vintners.
Peters is also grateful to John Anderson, Bud’s grandson and another
Galley member who helps the reincarnated eatery run so smoothly.
“John has all of the current operational experience I didn’t have,” says
Peter. “He has helped to put all of our processes and systems in place.”
“Plus, he’s an Anderson – a bridge to the past, who is also helping to
create the foundation for the future.”
Jeff’s Story
Just a few feet away, Jeff Anderson is busy with his family’s latest enterprise: The Anderson Inn. An upscale boutique hotel with just eight
rooms, each upstairs space is tranquil, roomy and comfortable – and
all boast fireplaces, wireless Internet access and full views of Morro
Bay and Morro Rock.
Entering the hospitality business with this elegant combination is the
newest way the Anderson family is shaping the unique character of
Morro Bay. The town, says Anderson, is not only full of childhood
memories, but is also a place with a new energy and positive future.
“Morro Bay was a great place to grow up in,” says Anderson, who,
with brother Rodger – a former mayor of Morro Bay – and sister
Mollie, represents the fourth generation of Andersons to live in San
Jeff and his mom back in the early 60s
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Luis Obispo County. (The family first settled here in the 1860s, and
Anderson’s great-grandfather Jefferson Lee Anderson, who Jeff is
named for, built the Anderson Hotel, still standing in downtown SLO
on Monterey and Morro Street.)
“At five years old, I could ride my bike anywhere in town,” continues
Anderson. “When I was 11 and 12, I remember during the summer,
spending more than one night on the top of Morro Rock with my
brother, a few of his friends and my dog Skippy. Dad was working, and
we would tell him we were going camping, but not tell him where!”
Like Dave Peter, Anderson graduated from Morro Union Elementary
and then attended Morro Bay High. At 15, he left home for the Robert
Lewis Stevenson School, a private boarding school in Monterey County
that believes that academic success is the key to a joyful life. Anderson
stayed up north after graduation from Stevenson, attending West Valley
College in Saratoga. It was here he learned the scholastic nuts and bolts
of the restaurant business. After that, Anderson relocated to the big
island of Hawaii, where he gained more experience at The Kona Galley
in Kailua-Kona, another seafood restaurant owned by Bud Anderson.
But like Dave Peter, Jeff Anderson had already learned much of his
profession hands-on – he, too, was one of the old Galley kids, and like
Peter, always knew he would come back to Morro Bay.
“The Galley first opened in 1966,” explains Peter, “and it’s employed
hundreds of kids since then. I started working there when I was 11,
cutting fish for the Bayshore Fish Market, which was then part of the
business. By the time I was 12, I was working as a busboy on weekdays and weekends.
Breakers dinner, 1962
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is especially thankful to contractor Chuck
Eras – “he made it all trouble free because of
his leadership and kind nature.”
The Galley, 1965
In addition to his Inn duties – which, says
Anderson, are managed equally by sister
Mollie with Rodger stepping in when needed
– Anderson can also be found most nights
at The Galley, sharing hosting duties with
Dave Peter. “I’ve been with Dave from the
first night he opened the new Galley,” he says.
“The other night, we passed each other in
the hallway, each super busy, each running
off to do something, each going in a different
direction.
“None of that mattered. I looked at him and
said, ‘I can’t believe how much fun we’re
having!’”
Visit www.galleymorrobay.com or call
(805) 772-7777 for more information on
The Galley Seafood Grill & Bar. To find
out more about The Anderson Inn, log on
to www.andersoninnmorrobay.com or call
(805) 772-3434.
The Galley and Anderson Inn, today
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“In fact, I worked with Dave on his first day,”
Anderson continues. “He was 14, I was 22,
and by then, I was working side-by-side with
my dad, doing host duties. I do remember
some great stories about Dave, but just like in
boarding school or the Marine Corps, there is
a ‘code of silence!’”
apart. It had been, for years. Being right on
the waterfront, especially with stilts right
in the water, is brutal. We kept band aids
on it for a very long time, doing lots of little
repairs, before we finally made the decision
that the best thing to do was tear it all down
and start new.”
Anderson has fond recollections of the last
great days at the old Galley.
Anderson credits brother Rodger with servicing the most challenging part of the entire
tear-down and rebuild: the bureaucracy and
red tape that took more than a year and a half
to get through. Mollie came up with the look
for the hotel, passing on those ideas to interior designer Jeannie MacDougal. Anderson
“After a year in Hawaii, I split the duties of
operating the restaurant with Rodger and
Mollie,” he says. “It was great, but we all
knew that the building was literally falling
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