Carl Alasko opened a counter-service café at 482 Alvarado St. in September and called it Gelato Pazzo Café. The gelato was the draw he was known for. According to Monterey County NOW, the name worked against him. Customers would come in and ask, "Oh, you have food?"
So it is now Pazzo Italian Café, and it serves pasta, focaccia, wine and an affordable dinner. The rename fits a pattern across downtown this fall. The new things on Alvarado Street, and the dates the holiday season is built around, mostly happen on weeknights and mostly start between 4 and 5 p.m. If you live here and plan your autumn around weekends, you'll miss a good part of it.
A Dinner Café Now Has a Dinner Café's Name
The renamed Pazzo is set up for an easy weeknight meal. Its menu includes three-cheese rigatoni, four-meat ragu, truffle orecchiette, a rock cod basil pesto and a red-wine brasato. There are four focaccia options and 27 gelato flavors. No item costs more than $10.50, apart from a couple of red wines at $12 a glass. Counter service and disposable plates keep prices down, and Alasko told the paper that "a person can have a good meal for $20, with a glass of wine."
Monterey County NOW described the café as about a month old, which matches its Sept. 17 report of the opening, and the introductory offer runs this week. From Tuesday, Oct. 13 through Thursday, Oct. 15, noon to 9 p.m., anyone who buys a drink gets a focaccia pizza free. That includes beer, wine, soda or coffee. The Old Monterey Business Association lists a formal grand opening on Friday, Oct. 16, under the café's original name.
If the Alasko name rings a bell, he spent 13 years running Il Vecchio at 110 Central Ave. in Pacific Grove. Monterey County NOW reported in 2024 that he passed it to chef Stefen Shatto and Shatto's mother, Kelly, on June 1 of that year. Shatto had helped open the restaurant with him. Il Vecchio didn't close. Pazzo is its founder's second act, a few miles down the road.
Pazzo isn't the only new dinner spot on Alvarado this year. Nami opened in February at 301 Alvarado St., in the former Cibo Ristorante Italiano space, and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The Weekly Rhythm, Reset for Shorter Days
Downtown's two recurring street markets now book-end the work week, and both are on new schedules this month.
| Night | Market | Where | Hours | Through |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | Old Monterey Marketplace | Alvarado Street | 4 to 7 p.m. | April, then 4 to 8 p.m. May through September |
| Friday | Paseo Night Market | Alvarado Mall, next to Portola Hotel & Spa | 4 to 8 p.m. | Oct. 30, last listed date |
The Tuesday market runs all year, but it lost an hour this month. The 8 p.m. close applies May through September. From October through April it wraps up at 7.
On Fridays, Good Roots Events is running the new Paseo Night Market. It opened Sept. 18 with 20 booths of local farmers, artisans and food producers, and admission is free. Monterey County NOW called it a new nighttime farmers market at 200 Alvarado St. The listing shows three dates left: Oct. 16, Oct. 23 and Oct. 30. Nothing has been posted about dates after that.
The two schedules move in opposite directions. Tuesday shortened its evening as daylight dropped, while Friday's new market runs to 8 p.m. for six weeks of fall. If a Friday walk to the Alvarado Mall has become part of your routine since mid-September, only three Fridays are left on the posted calendar. Friday, Oct. 16 lines up with Pazzo's listed grand opening a few blocks up the street.
Gelato has also spread to Cannery Row. Gelato-by-the-Sea, a Carmel shop, has opened a second location at 700 Cannery Row, next to The Fish Hopper.
After the Markets, the Evenings Move to the Lawns and Adobes
Once the Paseo market's posted run ends on Oct. 30, the season shifts to the city's historic spaces: Colton Hall Lawn, Custom House Plaza and the adobes of Old Monterey. Apart from one daytime festival in October, every date below starts at 4 or 5 p.m., and weeknights carry more of the season than you might expect.
- Saturday, Oct. 17, Colton Hall Lawn. A free Halloween Trunk-or-Treat runs 5 to 6:30 p.m., followed by a showing of "Scooby-Doo" at 6:30.
- Saturday, Oct. 24, Custom House Plaza. The California Seaweed Festival starts at 9 a.m. The Wharf Association lists a 5 p.m. close, while the Old Monterey listing says 4 p.m., so check with organizers before planning the afternoon.
- Saturday, Oct. 31, Old Fisherman's Wharf. Halloween on the Wharf runs 4 to 7 p.m.
- Friday, Dec. 4, Colton Hall Lawn. The free traditional tree lighting runs 5 to 6 p.m., by candlelight, with cookies and cider.
- Friday and Saturday, Dec. 11 and 12, Historic Old Monterey. The 42nd annual Christmas in the Adobes runs 5 to 9 p.m., with luminarias, holiday décor, music and refreshments.
- Tuesday, Dec. 15, Cooper-Molera Adobe. Old Town Monterey Navidad and a Holiday Farmers Market run 4 to 7 p.m., free, with live music and a photo booth.
Navidad falls on a Tuesday, and its 4-to-7 window matches the winter hours of the Old Monterey Marketplace exactly. The holiday event uses the same slot as the regular market.
The Wharf runs on a different clock. Christmas on the Wharf is listed from Dec. 4 through Dec. 20, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. That's an all-day stretch, while the Old Monterey events run an hour or a few hours in the evening. The Monterey Bay Half Marathon and its Race Expo, Nov. 6 through 8, also center on the Wharf. If you live downtown, expect that weekend to feel busier on that side of town.
The One Date With a Deadline
Most of the evenings above are free. Christmas in the Adobes is ticketed, and its pricing changes on Nov. 1. The Monterey State Historic Park Association lists an adult single-night ticket at $25 if bought before Nov. 1 and $30 after. A two-night Gold Pass costs $45, and anyone 17 and under gets in free. Military and MSHPA member discounts can't be applied online. Those tickets have to be bought in person at the Custom House Store.
MSHPA says an updated 2026 map is still to come, so the list of participating adobes hasn't been published yet. Anyone with a favorite courtyard from past years will have to wait for the map to confirm it's on the route.
Planning the Next Nine Weeks
Taken together, downtown's season is easier to plan by evening than by weekend. Pazzo's free-focaccia offer runs Tuesday through Thursday this week. The Tuesday market is on its 4-to-7 winter hours. The Paseo Night Market has three Fridays left. Every Old Monterey holiday event on the calendar starts at 4 or 5 p.m., and one falls on a Tuesday. The one firm deadline is Nov. 1, when the single-night price for Christmas in the Adobes goes from $25 to $30.
At Breakwater Properties, we follow Monterey at the same block-by-block level, including which storefronts on Alvarado are changing hands and what moves in. If you own downtown and want to know what this season's openings and street activity mean for your property's value, request a home valuation and we'll go through it with you directly.
