Elizabeth Garcia Hall and Jose Garcia
Jose Garcia and Elizabeth Garcia Hall, general Managers and proprietors, Hubbard Avenue Diner
How did your love story begin? It was 1996, and Elizabeth was teaching English in Merida, Venezuela, after having studied there through the university. Almost every day she would see Jose walking here or there around town. One night at a pizzeria-turned-dance-club, she saw him and decided it was the night to meet the man who kept catching her eye. As she approached him, he took the hand of a stunning young woman and moved to the dance floor. Undeterred, Elizabeth waited until after the dance and tried again. After saying hello, she asked if he had been dancing with his sister. Jose paused, then confidently said yes, indeed it had been his sister. Elizabeth called him on the bold-faced lie, and they spent the rest of the night dancing, talking and laughing. In 1997, Elizabeth moved back to the states to begin work on the immigration process. Jose was granted a K-1 fiancée visa in early 1998, and they were married in Madison later that year.
Favorite thing about one another: Jose: She makes me happy. Elizabeth: Jose makes me laugh. That’s the short list. There are lots of favorite things.
Favorite date night: The best date night is getting out of town to Minneapolis, Milwaukee or Chicago and finding new restaurants to try, art to purchase and neighborhoods to walk.
Favorite tradition you have as a couple: Summer vacation in Vail, APT shows in Spring Green and cutting our own Christmas tree.
What does your happily ever after look like? Happily ever after will be watching our children, Piper and Ziggy, continue to grow into amazing human beings, retiring to travel whenever the urge strikes, revisiting joyful places we have already seen and seeing new places that we’ve yet to discover.