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Tom Arnold's Old Places: The Waterfront Bar & Grill
Once a dive, now a celebrity hangout
The idea of writing about old places in San Diego County has been something I’ve been mulling around for years – but I kept putting it off because coming up with the parameters was a lot harder than I imagined. In the end, I decided to focus on businesses and restaurants that have been in the same place, with the same name and line of business, for at least 50 years.
Known as the oldest bar in San Diego, the Waterfront was opened in December 1933 — shortly after the repeal of Prohibition — by Chaffee Grant and Clair Blakley. The Waterfront soon became the place to be for the Italian and, later, Portuguese fisherman who manned the huge tuna fleets that used to be anchored off the nearby Embarcadero. When downtown redevelopment touched down in Little Italy, the bar’s popularity surged, fueled by a spirit of nostalgia that no doubt was in turn fueled by the destruction in prior years of so many other historic buildings and landmarks. Celebrities, including Gene Wilder and Bill Murray, popped into the Waterfront when they were in town. The place is now so popular that it’s hard to find a spot at the bar, even on weeknights. But if you do, take a long, hard look around and feast your eyes on the fishnets and giant swordfish hanging on the walls, between photos of forgotten prizefighters and Pacific Coast League baseball heroes.
Editor's Note: Tin Fork''s Ed Bedford visited the Waterfront a couple of years back, and more than a quarter-century ago, Justin Wolff included it in a roundup of San Diego's best dive bars.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Tom Arnold's Old Places: The Waterfront Bar & Grill
Once a dive, now a celebrity hangout
Tom Arnold's Old Places: The Waterfront Bar & Grill
Once a dive, now a celebrity hangout
The idea of writing about old places in San Diego County has been something I’ve been mulling around for years – but I kept putting it off because coming up with the parameters was a lot harder than I imagined. In the end, I decided to focus on businesses and restaurants that have been in the same place, with the same name and line of business, for at least 50 years.
Known as the oldest bar in San Diego, the Waterfront was opened in December 1933 — shortly after the repeal of Prohibition — by Chaffee Grant and Clair Blakley. The Waterfront soon became the place to be for the Italian and, later, Portuguese fisherman who manned the huge tuna fleets that used to be anchored off the nearby Embarcadero. When downtown redevelopment touched down in Little Italy, the bar’s popularity surged, fueled by a spirit of nostalgia that no doubt was in turn fueled by the destruction in prior years of so many other historic buildings and landmarks. Celebrities, including Gene Wilder and Bill Murray, popped into the Waterfront when they were in town. The place is now so popular that it’s hard to find a spot at the bar, even on weeknights. But if you do, take a long, hard look around and feast your eyes on the fishnets and giant swordfish hanging on the walls, between photos of forgotten prizefighters and Pacific Coast League baseball heroes.
Editor's Note: Tin Fork''s Ed Bedford visited the Waterfront a couple of years back, and more than a quarter-century ago, Justin Wolff included it in a roundup of San Diego's best dive bars.