Heat lamps and hot cider. Can restaurants survive a pandemic winter?

Guido Oppizzi hoped that State Street, the main thoroughfare in his adopted hometown of Santa Barbara, California, and home to his popular bistro, could someday become a pedestrian promenade reminiscent of the cafe-packed piazzas in his native Italy.  

“Then the pandemic hit,” he says. “It wasn’t the way anyone would have wanted it to happen, but the city decided in May to close State Street – and that actually saved my restaurant.” 

Outdoor seating at Oppi’z expanded from seating for four to 50 thanks to alfresco dining on State Street, which is now oozing with the European-style ambiance Mr. Oppizzi had dreamed of. 

All over the United States – in other small cities like Boulder, Colorado; and Portland, Maine; to mega metropolises such as San Francisco, Chicago, Las Vegas, Miami,