Montana Avenue’s Sweet Lady Jane Bakery Temporarily Shut, Julie Ngu Working to Reopen and Get Cake to Fans
By Dolores Quintana
Santa Monica rejoiced after the soft reopening of the flagship Montana Avenue Sweet Lady Jane Bakery on Monday, March 4. Sadly, the city of Los Angeles temporarily closed the location on Wednesday. A local resident posted on our social media, noting the closure and notes on the front door. Sweet Lady Jane’s owner has responded, and the bakery is doing its best to make it possible for Santa Monica residents to purchase cakes with delivery while they try to resolve the issues that closed the shop.
The closure notices refer to Los Angeles city codes regarding remodeling and submitting plans for remodeling. We have requested comment from the Los Angeles County Health Department and are awaiting a response. The note from the new owners explained the situation and left the email address info@sljbakeries.com for anyone who has inquiries or needs help.
We contacted Julie Ngu, one of the new owners of Sweet Lady Jane and CEO of Pacific French Bakery, and this was her response. “We have been working day and night to get our Santa Monica store reopened. Unfortunately, that is true. The city has temporarily closed our Santa Monica location due to the previous owners failing to apply for the appropriate permits for the remodel in 2023.
Since Wednesday afternoon, we have already submitted new plans that the previous owners were supposed to file and have been working closely with the city to get us back on track. In the meantime, we have set up a phone ordering system and are offering free delivery to the Santa Monica community within 5 miles between 3:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. We are trying to be creative to continue to serve our customers the best way we can.”
The Sweet Lady Jane Instagram also posted this message this morning, “Santa Monicans! We’ve hit a little bubble in the cake batter. Due to circumstances beyond our control, we had to temporarily close the Santa Monica location. We continue to work with the Department of Health in regard to permits the previous owners failed to file appropriately with the city.
In the interim, please call (310) 254-9499 to place your order, and we will deliver it to you for FREE within a 5-mile radius of the Santa Monica store.”
