An ebullient friend of mine once decided to visit every bar in Pacific Beach before he left San Diego to start a drearier life on the East Coast. Ever ambitious he didn’t miss a single bar- or so he claims. I don’t known how he had the stamina because PB (as the locals call it) has enough bars to keep the average consumer drunk for weeks. For those less ambitious epicures who have less time but still a hearty lust for alcohol Pacific Beach can effectively be effectively covered by following the main street, Garnet Avenue, with a deviation here and there.
The best place to start is at Lahaina Beachhouse where the wooden patio on the beach has a view of the sunset that can’t be matched. If you can start bar hopping early enough stray from Garnet just to watch the sunset with the cheering crowd of happily sipping people. For those getting a late start, skip Lahaina and stay on Garnet.
Starting on Garnet at the corner of Mission Boulevard you will come to PB Bar and Grill and its neighbor, Moondoggies. For everything you ever wanted to know about PB Bar and Grill visit . Get your hand stamped and go back and forth between these two bars. In this way you could spend your night hopping back and forth and not even remember there are other bars. PB Bar and Grill has a nice patio, pool tables and good food specials during the weeks. For the sports fans there are also numerous televisions showing any number of different games. Next door, Moondoggies is less talked about but often the better place to go if PB Bar and Grill is less crowded. It, too, has plentiful televisions and a great patio and on Thursdays there are two dollar “u-call-its.”
Heading East up Garnet feel free to stop at any bar you stumble across. All have that similar beach ambience that only Pacific Beach maintains. Plum Crazy Saloon has sixty-eight beers on tap, foosball, pool, and sports TVs. It is small but never a bad place to be and the drinks are usually strong. Further up still is the aptly named Typhoon Saloon, perhaps the most popular bar/club in Pacific Beach. During the day it is mild mannered Big Bertha’s but at night it transforms into Typhoon. Wednesdays is Metal Shop, which is all 1980s heavy metal. The pool tables, huge crowds, dance floors, and different levels make Typhoon unique and easy for people watching or dancing. If Typhoon is your destination then go early because after ten the line goes around the block.
If you do end up staring in shock and indignation at the never ending line at Typhoon there are alternatives. Next-door is Fred’s, which is a great Mexican restaurant with massive margaritas that is owned by the same company. Even at its most crowded there is seldom a line worth mentioning and the atmosphere is less headache inducing then Typhoon’s hardcore partying. Around the corner is The Dog; a small, newly renovated bar with pool tables and dollar beers also on Wednesdays and across the street is the Tavern at the Beach. The Tavern is also a popular bar, more low key, very beachy, and it plays eighties music on Wednesdays. Unfortunately the Tavern’s popularity, like many of the once smaller PB bars, is growing daily, as are the lines.
Amazingly this is not the end of the list of bars you can frequent. Longboard’s is the best place for reggae if you’re bar hopping on a Sunday. If you want strong, inexpensive drinks then the Silver Fox is the dive bar for you. However, while it remains popular, for girls like myself the biggest drawback is the constant appearance of lecherous-looking older men. While this phenomenon is recurring throughout San Diego it seems most prevalent here.
While this list seems extensive it is only a taste of the prolific nightlife that thrives in Pacific Beach. There is so much to do you will never get bored, but be careful. Because it is such an inexpensive place to drink PB is almost as full of policemen as it is of revelers. If you drink and drive you will get a DUI. So take a taxi then walk up Garnet. Get there before ten to avoid the lines and when you get kicked out when the bars close at ten write to me and tell me if PB isn’t the perfect place to go bar hopping.
For more information on San Diego’s nightlife visit.
(Part 1 of a Single in San Diego series)
