Today: Santa Clara’s Fish Market restaurant contents being auctioned off

Vintage prints, dining tables, kitchen equipment all going in online sale

Want a souvenir of your many meals enjoyed at the Fish Market? Or maybe stainless steel equipment to outfit your own restaurant kitchen?

The contents of the Santa Clara restaurant, which closed permanently last summer after 43 years, will be auctioned off today (Tuesday, April 25) in an online-only sale, with preview hours at the location, 3775 El Camino Real.

Commercial kitchen pieces — ranges, steamers, refrigerators, prep tables, griddles, fryers, shelves and sinks — dominate the 198 auction lots, along with furniture from the restaurant’s dining room. Nautical-themed decor and vintage prints of fishing fleets that were displayed on the walls are also being sold, including a 12-foot-long print that depicts a Columbia River crew from 1915.

“There are definitely going to be some incredible deals in the sale. The current bid on a custom solid wood table and four chairs is only $7.50,” LocalAuctions.com CEO Gabriel Prado said Monday evening. “It’s sad to see the Fish Market go but it’s also a great opportunity for the local community to buy a piece of this iconic restaurant.”

Bidding takes place online only at this LocalAuctions.com link until 1 p.m. today. Want to inspect before you place your digital bid? The public preview will be held from 10 a.m. to noon. Starting at 1 p.m., the lots online will begin to close one by one, Prado said.

Participants must register on the auction website (note the red “register” button) before placing a bid. Registration and bidding are free; all lots have a $5 starting bid. Winning bidders can pick up their items Wednesday and Thursday between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.

The 2022 restaurant closure decision, which came less than two years after the company announced that the South San Jose location wouldn’t survive the coronavirus era, left just two Fish Market restaurants in the Bay Area: Palo Alto and San Mateo. There are also two in Southern California.

Fish Market auction link: https://online.localauctions.com/auction/1925/bidgallery/