Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

The Hole

The Hole’s “best chest” contest often sees over 600 attendees in a day. - Image by Chris Woo
The Hole’s “best chest” contest often sees over 600 attendees in a day.
Place

Hole Bar

2820 Lytton Street, San Diego

The Hole calls itself “a pretty much world famous dive” and — having proffered stiff ones since 1934 (then Murphy’s Beer Garden) — it may well be true. If the name doesn’t give away the tongue-in-cheek flamboyance of this Liberty Station–adjacent cocktail cabana, perhaps the placard nailed above the bar will. “Only sailors get blown offshore,” it reads — a wink and nod to the military/gay crowd that lend the Hole its special charm.

Previously dubbed the 19th Hole due to its proximity to the Sail Ho Golf Club, the bar sits in a depression dug in the early 1900s to access an aqueduct that ran between Mission Bay (then called False Bay) and San Diego Bay. Now, the stairs at the Hole’s entrance descend into a tropical garden patio complete with tabletop firepit, towering ferns, and a Buddha head poised among the foliage.

To get a taste of the bar in its full glory, poke in on a Thursday ($4 Stoli and Bacardi all night) or, better, a Monday ($2 wells, $5 32 oz. well pitchers) for the weekly wet underwear contest. The Hole is packed on Sundays ($4 Three Olives — noon to 3), when the monthly “best chest” contest (which dates back to the ’70s in the days of the leather-heavy Hole Sunday Beer Bust) often sees over 600 in attendance over the course of the day.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Really, though, there’s no such thing as a bad day to visit when anytime specials include $12 Long Island mini pitchers, $7 Yellow Tail mini pitchers, $7 Coors Light mini pitchers with a Jäger shot, and $2 well shots with a beer purchase.

The patio grill fires up around 8:30 most nights and cooks burgers and dogs to accompany 12 selections of draught beer or mixed-drink pitchers poured by Nino, the Hole’s staple bartender of 13 years. Sharing owners with the nautical Fiddler’s Green restaurant and bar on Shelter Island, the Hole touts free Wi-Fi and a piano with a few broken keys to carry the mood between jukebox jams.

Not accustomed to saluting the same sex? Don’t let it stop you. The Hole is open to everyone, and you won’t be the only straight sailor in the brig.

Capacity: 299

Hours: Mon, 4 p.m.–2 a.m.; Tues and weds, 5 p.m.–11 p.m.; Thurs, 4 p.m.–12 a.m.; Fri and sat, 3 p.m.–2 a.m.; Sun, 1 p.m.–2 a.m.

The Deal: $5 32 oz. well pitchers (Mondays)

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Mary Catherine Swanson wants every San Diego student going to college

Where busing from Southeast San Diego to University City has led
Next Article

Bringing Order to the Christmas Chaos

There is a sense of grandeur in Messiah that period performance mavens miss.
The Hole’s “best chest” contest often sees over 600 attendees in a day. - Image by Chris Woo
The Hole’s “best chest” contest often sees over 600 attendees in a day.
Place

Hole Bar

2820 Lytton Street, San Diego

The Hole calls itself “a pretty much world famous dive” and — having proffered stiff ones since 1934 (then Murphy’s Beer Garden) — it may well be true. If the name doesn’t give away the tongue-in-cheek flamboyance of this Liberty Station–adjacent cocktail cabana, perhaps the placard nailed above the bar will. “Only sailors get blown offshore,” it reads — a wink and nod to the military/gay crowd that lend the Hole its special charm.

Previously dubbed the 19th Hole due to its proximity to the Sail Ho Golf Club, the bar sits in a depression dug in the early 1900s to access an aqueduct that ran between Mission Bay (then called False Bay) and San Diego Bay. Now, the stairs at the Hole’s entrance descend into a tropical garden patio complete with tabletop firepit, towering ferns, and a Buddha head poised among the foliage.

To get a taste of the bar in its full glory, poke in on a Thursday ($4 Stoli and Bacardi all night) or, better, a Monday ($2 wells, $5 32 oz. well pitchers) for the weekly wet underwear contest. The Hole is packed on Sundays ($4 Three Olives — noon to 3), when the monthly “best chest” contest (which dates back to the ’70s in the days of the leather-heavy Hole Sunday Beer Bust) often sees over 600 in attendance over the course of the day.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Really, though, there’s no such thing as a bad day to visit when anytime specials include $12 Long Island mini pitchers, $7 Yellow Tail mini pitchers, $7 Coors Light mini pitchers with a Jäger shot, and $2 well shots with a beer purchase.

The patio grill fires up around 8:30 most nights and cooks burgers and dogs to accompany 12 selections of draught beer or mixed-drink pitchers poured by Nino, the Hole’s staple bartender of 13 years. Sharing owners with the nautical Fiddler’s Green restaurant and bar on Shelter Island, the Hole touts free Wi-Fi and a piano with a few broken keys to carry the mood between jukebox jams.

Not accustomed to saluting the same sex? Don’t let it stop you. The Hole is open to everyone, and you won’t be the only straight sailor in the brig.

Capacity: 299

Hours: Mon, 4 p.m.–2 a.m.; Tues and weds, 5 p.m.–11 p.m.; Thurs, 4 p.m.–12 a.m.; Fri and sat, 3 p.m.–2 a.m.; Sun, 1 p.m.–2 a.m.

The Deal: $5 32 oz. well pitchers (Mondays)

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Big kited bluefin on the Red Rooster III

Lake fishing heating up as the weather cools
Next Article

Bringing Order to the Christmas Chaos

There is a sense of grandeur in Messiah that period performance mavens miss.
Comments
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
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader