The new space is easily twice the size of Baja’s approximately 1,000-square-foot original site. The Paraisos also owned Kusina Filipina, another cornerstone of the Beacon Hill community that was displaced in 2017. Baja will split the ground floor with CheBogz - the first brick-and-mortar for the Filipino food truck of the same name, operated by Trixia and Paula, sisters from the Paraiso family. It’s also even closer to Castro’s brother Luis Rodrigquez’s cafe and community hub, The Station coffee shop. The new location, at Colina West to be exact, is just south of the Beacon Hill light rail station. We’re looking forward to seeing our friends and customers and starting this new adventure together.” We can’t wait to go back to whatever the new normal is. “It’s been a tough year and a half for everyone. “We’re excited to come back,” Castro said. He’s hopeful the restaurant will officially reopen in December. “The ball is rolling,” said owner Oscar Castro. Now they’ve secured a new location: the ground floor of the new Colina Apartments. But Baja was forced to close last summer during the pandemic. For almost 25 years it was North Beacon Hill’s longest-running neighborhood Mexican restaurant - and eventually became its one and only gay bar.
