Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
New Elephant, Classic Lounge
John Reis (Rocket From the Crypt, Hot Snakes) becomes the latest rocker to enter the world of local bar ownership. Reis, his wife Ami, and two other couples formed a six-person partnership to purchase a full-liquor bar on 30th Street near University, a block south of Scolari's Office.
Reis and partners remodeled the shuttered Dino's and reopened it last month as the Pink Elephant. "We remodeled it as a classic cocktail lounge," said co-owner Dang Nguyen. "It's similar to Pacific Shores in Ocean Beach." He said the three ladies in the partnership have all worked together as bartenders at Pacific Shores.
Pink Elephant's liquor license allows for entertainment. Nguyen said he hopes to have live bands as soon as August 23. "That's when we have tentatively booked [local band] Hostile Combover."
Nguyen said Dino's had a legal capacity of 234. He expects that with the installation of booths, the capacity of the Pink Elephant will be between 150 and 175. The Casbah's legal capacity is approximately 200.
"We will build a stage, but we don't want to be a [music] club just to be a club. We don't want to charge a cover charge unless it's needed to pay bands. The Creepy Creeps also asked to play. We might get Bob Log III. We'd like to get the Woggles. John's been talking with booking agents. He has a wider contact list than me."
Nguyen says the Pink Elephant is the only bar he knows of with a jukebox with 7-inch 45 rpm singles by artists like Dick Dale, Booker T. and the MG's, and Screamin' Jay Hawkins. "It's being repaired right now."
Sam Chammas said he used to have a 45 jukebox at his Whistle Stop bar in South Park. "It's good just to show 21- to 25-year-olds that there used to be a jukebox with records," says Chammas. He says he took his out "...because I got tired of getting calls every week saying it broke down again. They are 50-year-old machines."
Chammas, like Reis, is a former rocker who made his way into bar ownership. He was in the country-rock Outriders (1983--'89) and "twisted folk" bands Sons of Disaster (1990--'94) and Carnivorous Lunar Activity (1994--'99).
Nguyen said the Pink Elephant employs its share of local rockers, including Mark Gariss (Radio Wendy), Gabe Serbian (the Locust), and Andy Stamets (Rocket From the Crypt). "John [Reis] is even going to pull a Sunday afternoon bartender shift."
Here's something you might be interested in.
New Elephant, Classic Lounge
New Elephant, Classic Lounge
John Reis (Rocket From the Crypt, Hot Snakes) becomes the latest rocker to enter the world of local bar ownership. Reis, his wife Ami, and two other couples formed a six-person partnership to purchase a full-liquor bar on 30th Street near University, a block south of Scolari's Office.
Reis and partners remodeled the shuttered Dino's and reopened it last month as the Pink Elephant. "We remodeled it as a classic cocktail lounge," said co-owner Dang Nguyen. "It's similar to Pacific Shores in Ocean Beach." He said the three ladies in the partnership have all worked together as bartenders at Pacific Shores.
Pink Elephant's liquor license allows for entertainment. Nguyen said he hopes to have live bands as soon as August 23. "That's when we have tentatively booked [local band] Hostile Combover."
Nguyen said Dino's had a legal capacity of 234. He expects that with the installation of booths, the capacity of the Pink Elephant will be between 150 and 175. The Casbah's legal capacity is approximately 200.
"We will build a stage, but we don't want to be a [music] club just to be a club. We don't want to charge a cover charge unless it's needed to pay bands. The Creepy Creeps also asked to play. We might get Bob Log III. We'd like to get the Woggles. John's been talking with booking agents. He has a wider contact list than me."
Nguyen says the Pink Elephant is the only bar he knows of with a jukebox with 7-inch 45 rpm singles by artists like Dick Dale, Booker T. and the MG's, and Screamin' Jay Hawkins. "It's being repaired right now."
Sam Chammas said he used to have a 45 jukebox at his Whistle Stop bar in South Park. "It's good just to show 21- to 25-year-olds that there used to be a jukebox with records," says Chammas. He says he took his out "...because I got tired of getting calls every week saying it broke down again. They are 50-year-old machines."
Chammas, like Reis, is a former rocker who made his way into bar ownership. He was in the country-rock Outriders (1983--'89) and "twisted folk" bands Sons of Disaster (1990--'94) and Carnivorous Lunar Activity (1994--'99).
Nguyen said the Pink Elephant employs its share of local rockers, including Mark Gariss (Radio Wendy), Gabe Serbian (the Locust), and Andy Stamets (Rocket From the Crypt). "John [Reis] is even going to pull a Sunday afternoon bartender shift."
Comments