The Dreamers Who Saw Shadowbrook Before Anyone Else

Shadowbrook Stories – Part Two

In 1944, Brad Macdonald and Ed Philippet purchased an abandoned hillside property overlooking Soquel Creek for $8,000. Brad was a San Francisco native who had grown up in Capitola, while both men were veterans of World War II. Where others saw an aging home hidden behind years of overgrowth, they imagined a restaurant unlike anything the small seaside community had known.

Their idea was ambitious, but it was not complicated. Brad and Ed believed the hillside itself could become part of the dining experience. The redwoods, the creek, the secluded setting, and the unusual old house offered a character that could never be recreated in a conventional building. Rather than clearing the property and starting over, they chose to work with what was already there.

The two men brought different strengths to the venture. When Shadowbrook opened in the fall of 1947, Ed worked in the kitchen while Brad tended the bar and welcomed guests. The restaurant began with only about 50 seats, limited resources, mismatched furniture, and an access path that made nearly every delivery a challenge. Those early years required both imagination and a willingness to do whatever the day demanded.

Their timing was significant. Shadowbrook opened before Capitola was officially a city, when the community was still a small, unincorporated town of roughly 2,000 residents. As the restaurant began attracting visitors, it helped introduce a wider audience to a place that had long been known primarily as a modest seaside resort. Shadowbrook would eventually become one of the businesses that helped establish Capitola as a destination in its own right.

Brad’s involvement in Capitola extended well beyond the restaurant. When residents voted to incorporate the community in January 1949, he was elected to the first City Council at just 27 years old. Although the council initially selected an older member to serve as the city’s first mayor, Brad became mayor the following year. When official word of Capitola’s incorporation arrived from Sacramento, the new city had no city hall, so the telegram was delivered directly to Shadowbrook.

Brad became known as an energetic promoter of both the restaurant and the community around it. He brought guests to Shadowbrook by water taxi, transported visitors in an amphibious vehicle, welcomed Miss California contestants, and helped draw attention to a town still finding its identity. Capitola historian Carolyn Swift later described him as the kind of colorful character a community needs to retain its charm.

Ed’s influence was quieter but equally essential to Shadowbrook’s beginning. While Brad became the more visible public figure, Ed helped turn an unlikely idea into a functioning restaurant. He remained involved after Brad later sold his interest, carrying the enterprise forward as it grew from a difficult hillside experiment into an established Capitola institution.

Together, Brad Macdonald and Ed Philippet created more than a memorable place to eat. They helped demonstrate what Capitola could become: a community whose natural beauty, independent spirit, and distinctive businesses could attract visitors from far beyond the shores of Monterey Bay. Their restaurant opened two years before Capitola became a city, then grew alongside it as both began writing a new chapter.

Brad and Ed saw possibilities in an abandoned house, but their vision did not stop at the edge of the property. Shadowbrook became part of Capitola’s emerging identity, and the two young entrepreneurs became part of the community’s history.

The dream had taken shape. Turning it into a restaurant would require three years of difficult work.

Next in Shadowbrook Stories: Building a Restaurant Where There Was No Road. Restoring the old hillside home was challenging enough. Reaching it—and getting tools, equipment, and supplies down the slope—made the project even more remarkable.