Baci Cafe & Wine Bar in Healdsburg to be closed for weeks after SUV crashes into dining room

Behind a piece of plywood blocking the entrance to Baci Cafe & Wine Bar in Healdsburg is a floor covered in shattered glass with heavy furniture displaced and piled up against walls.

The scene, police and the business owner say, is the result of a driver who crashed into the 16-year-old restaurant Saturday morning. Recovery has barely begun and the closure is expected to last upwards of six to eight weeks.

"As you can see, it's a mess. (Workers) have to completely rebuild the front," owner Lisbeth Holmefjord told The Press Democrat Tuesday.

The crash occurred about 7:50 a.m. Saturday after a 36-year-old New Yorker lost control of a Honda SUV. He claimed it happened after spilling coffee on himself, Healdsburg Police Chief Matt Jenkins said.

Alcohol did not play a role in the crash and the driver was not arrested, Jenkins added. No one was inside the building at the time and there were no injuries.

Police called Holmefjord at 8:01 a.m. Saturday and left a voicemail that there was an incident at her restaurant. She initially suspected someone tried to break in and an alarm was triggered.

"When you hear this, you never thought someone crashed into a restaurant," Holmefjord said of the voicemail.

She's relieved no one was injured and the building didn't need to be red-tagged, which would have prevented her from being inside to survey the damage.

A message on Baci's website states the restaurant is closed until further notice. Most concerning, Holmefjord said, is what will happen to her 22 staffers while the restaurant is shuttered.

For now Holmefjord said she's communicating with her insurance provider and construction officials to figure out when repairs may begin. A throng of community members have contacted her to show their support and one started a GoFundMe fundraiser to support the staff.

"Baci is more than a business; it's a family," fundraiser organizer Carol McKnight wrote in the post. "Many team members have been here since the beginning, and others have joined along the way, all essential to its spirit. With the doors closed, their paychecks stop - through no fault of their own. The family is working hard to rebuild and reopen, but insurance takes time, and the team needs support now."

You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin.atagi@pressdemocrat.com.

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