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(Pictured from left) DeeDee Trejo-Rowlett, left, with her mother Connie Trejo and brother Henry Trejo Jr. The trio owns and operates Lola’s 7Up Market and Deli in Carlsbad's Barrio neighborhood. Photo by Steve Puterski
(Pictured from left) DeeDee Trejo-Rowlett, left, with her mother Connie Trejo and brother Henry Trejo Jr. The trio owns and operates Lola’s 7Up Market and Deli in Carlsbad's Barrio neighborhood. Photo by Steve Puterski
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Iconic Lola’s market, deli celebrates 80 years in Carlsbad

CARLSBAD — Eighty years ago, the city’s most iconic business (and perhaps longest-running) opened its doors in Carlsbad. 

The first iteration of Lola’s 7Up Market & Deli opened on March 17, 1943, on the corner of Roosevelt Street and Walnut Avenue (the original store was located on the southeast corner). The shop became a staple for locals and visitors seeking breakfast, lunch or an early dinner.

Today, the market is a third-generation business with the baton passing from Connie Trejo, 89, to her daughter, DeeDee Trejo-Rowlett, son, Henry Jr. Trejo, and niece, Socorro Jauregui.

Over the weekend, Connie was the guest of honor to celebrate the store’s 80th anniversary.

“It doesn’t seem like 80 years,” Connie told The Coast News. “I had a really nice time and got to see a lot of people I haven’t seen in a long time. I’m glad my kids are still working here and taking over.”

The business was started in 1943 by Connie’s parents, Reyes Jauregui and his wife, Dolores “Lola” Jauregui. The couple bought the store from another couple who moved to Arizona for health reasons.

The iconic Lola’s 7Up Market and Deli in the Barrio in Carlsbad celebrated its 80th anniversary on March 17. Photo by Steve Puterski
Lola’s 7Up Market and Deli in Carlsbad’s Barrio neighborhood celebrated 80 years this weekend. Photo by Steve Puterski

Back then, the city’s landscape was dotted with farms and a substantial Latino population. The store was first known as Jaure’s 7Up Market, and the Jaureguis lived next door. 

The couple kept the location until 1986 before moving to its current spot across the street.

Over the years, Jaure’s was also referred to as Lola’s due to the matriarch’s longevity and popularity in the Barrio neighborhood, the city’s first quarter that was not well-liked by the Latino population due to the term’s negative connotations, according to Connie.

Regardless, Lola’s has stood tall over the past eight decades. After the Jaureguis decided to step aside, Connie and her sisters, including the late Ofie Escobedo, ran the market. Ofie Escobedo passed away in November at the age of 94.

In 2012, Lola’s was named Business of the Year by the San Diego Union-Tribune’s first San Diego Latino Champions Awards ceremony. The market also received proclamations from former State Sen. Mark Wyland and the City of Carlsbad.

Connie and DeeDee said their loyal customers had kept the business afloat for the past 80 years. And now, patronizing Lola’s has become a generational tradition passed down to their customers’ children.

Lola's in Carlsbad has become a generational tradition for customers of the beloved Barrio market and deli. Photo by Steve Puterski
Lola’s is a generational tradition for customers of the beloved Barrio market and deli. Photo by Steve Puterski

“You see them as kids, and now they’re bringing their kids,” DeeDee said. “We are starting to see that second, third generation of customers, which is really cool.”

According to the family, the market’s popularity has gone national. Henry Trejo recounted how the family has run into people from Seattle to Las Vegas who remembered eating at Lola’s. One run-in happened atop the Space Needle in Seattle.

As for the old location, DeeDee said it’d been turned into an unofficial family and market museum. The walls are covered with photos of friends and family, wartime letters from the U.S. government and more. The family even opens the “museum” to allow quick tours for third and fourth graders to learn about Carlsbad’s history.

Perhaps in another 80 years, three younger generations of the family will have taken over stewardship of the market, keeping the iconic Barrio business thriving well beyond a century.