I’ve lived in OB for the past 25 years and own three houses here, and I’ve seen a few cycles of ups and downs.
Apple Tree Market was no great loss. The owner was an asshole, and half the stuff on their shelves was expired. Seriously, the worst supermarket in town. Good riddance. I would have loved for another market to come in, but CVS is better than an empty building, It will be interesting to see if/what the Apple Tree owner does in the new location. I don’t have high hopes.
The owner of the optometry shop on Newport keeps buying up commercial real estate and squeezing out tenants. Not sure how that’s all going to play out.
Those three town homes at the end of West Point Loma will hopefully be the last of their kind that get built in OB. I’m not a fan of the ones at the foot of Saratoga either.
Traffic in and out has always sucked in summertime. Catalina is your friend.
OB is one of the last old-school beach towns left in California, and its reputation and the airport are probably the only things keeping it that way.
