Ocean Beach’s rapid gentrification

[gzz]

While breaded fried fish tastes good, it has all the empty fat and carbs of a small order of french fries.

Oscar’s in Ocean Beach has really good grilled mahi tacos, as well as shrimp and steak.

They got lucky with that location. For years it was a crummy and dirty looking taco stand. Then some other guy spent a fortune renovating the space for a high-end casual place with things like ciopinno stew. They lasted only about 3 months but left all the new dark polished wood furniture and walls and new kitchen equipment.

[livinincali]

[quote=ltsdd][quote=livinincali][quote=meadandale]
Cash only, 14oz “pints”, horrible service. They rely a lot on their location and a nearly mythical reputation that they haven’t actually merited in years.
[/quote]

For anybody that cares it’s not cash only anymore. I do remember when they were indeed one of the best fish tacos in town but now there’s just so many other places doing quality fish tacos.[/quote]

Do you care to share what those places are? I have tried the little taco shop across from soutbeach and was quite disappointed & don’t even waste your $ on the one that sits on the other end of the block. It’s ironic that the best fish tacos I’ve had is at SB (grilled mahi mahi & baja/pollock) & a close second is brigantine; and not at any of those “authentic” mexican taco shops.[/quote]

I personally like Blue Water or the Fish Shop in pb better than south beach now. I also like the Kikos truck on Friars road a little east of the YMCA in a parking lot with a liquor store. South beach on taco Tuesday/Thursday is hard to beat price wise if you get there early enough to avoid the massive crowd.

Of course pretty much all of these places share the same trait. They tend to be really busy most of the time.

[gzz]

1. Oscar’s has a new name and owner but is basically the same

2. The 76 gas station reopened and is now very nice and modern, but still has very cheap gas

3. A fancy wine tasting place that seems to be operated by a vineyard opened on Newport near Cable

4. Another fancy bar opened next to Warehouse. They have no front door at all, just a roll up, so it has a nice open feel.

[gzz]

Some RE market observations:

1. Late summer and early fall was disappointing for OB RE bulls, with inventory tracking up and prices holding flat. Just this past week though there were a big slew of active houses going pending and pending going sold, so inventory is once again extremely tight.

2. We are finally getting some new commercial space with the near completion of the large two-floor building on Sunset Cliffs and Cable. Only one announced tenant so far, a raw and vegan fast food place. Looks like parking will be ample and it will have nice landscaping. The building isn’t a landmark, but it is fairly pretty and much better than most “neighborhood commercial” buildings in San Diego.

3. Some drama involving a suicide attempt and waving around a gun at Ebb Tide Motel brought a bunch of emergency vehicles.

Nothing could be better for the immediate neighbors on the 5000 block of WPL than shutting it down or a complete renovation and tenant replacement.

The owner must pay a ton to insurance that place with the all issues it has.

Ebb Tide actually has improved somewhat over the years but is a still a nasty scar on a great neighborhood a block from the ocean.

[gzz]

OB now home to the highest end Filipino restaurant in San Diego:

https://www.starfisheatery.com/

They are even going to have a tasting menu!

Every single year I have been here since 2006 dining has improved. Covid broke that happy streak in 2020, but from the ashes of the covid casualties, new places will rise!

Even with the bad 2020 issues, the newly opened OB Dirty Birds is the best of the San Diego locations and is a great addition. So is the new Thai place, Soi OB.

I hope the outdoor dining becomes permanent. The slightly reduced street parking is no skin off my back!

[gzz]

I enjoyed rereading all the prior comments from 2015. I largely agree with them.

I don’t think I’d say the pace of gentrification is “rapid” anymore with regard to commercial outlets. It certainly was 2012-2016, but since then it has been slow and steady, with a few dumpy places going upscale each and every year.

Residential has been on fire non-stop since 2012.

Flu doubted a condo purchase would double in 2015… they more than doubled. My condo’s zestimate is 141% higher than my purchase price from late 2016!

Somebody said they liked Blue Water’s fish tacos better than South Beach.

Three years after that comment, Blue Water chose OB as the spot for its second location. It is such a great place, the $6 fish tacos are ultra fresh, grilled, and filling enough to have just one for a light lunch. I get their raw fish to cook at home pretty often too.

[sdrealtor]

Would be great to update the gentrification efforts since the OP and how much farther its gotten. Any major imporvements since or on the way?

[gzz]

1. For my own lifestyle, Blue Water’s opening was huge. I really like high end local-caught fish!

2. The single biggest physical change is the old antique mall on Newport was replaced with a small-format Target. The same location decades ago was a Coronet, a defunct chain pretty similar to Target.

The whole Cable to Sunset Cliffs block was about 75% antique stores when I moved here, now there is only a single one left. Several of the spots are beer, wine, and hard kambucha tasting rooms.

3. Another positive change has been the introduction of a private neighborhood security force. There are still bums, but I have not seen any aggressive panhandling since they arrived a few years ago.

4. On the beach block, a run-down biker bar was replaced by the Holding Company. They constructed a brand new building with a stunning roof deck and ample space for live music. It is owned by the Noodle House guy and is his third OB restaurant, and the food is great. I am not much of a drinker so I have not been there for the evening bar periods.

5. Right across the street from Holding Company, and also with rooftop view seating, is OB Brewery. Seems like a nice place to mostly drink with some light snacks.

6. Kilowatt is another tasting room that replaced a dirty old auto repair shop. I did not drink there, but it is really pretty with elaborate trippy lighting.

7. The Wednesday farmer’s market keeps physically expanding and spilling out into new areas, including the grassy field by the beach and side streets.

8. Appletree supermarket reopened in a new location on Newport that used to be a theater. It is completely different than the old downscale store. Now it is most similar to a Sprouts.

9. The small shopping plaza on Santa Monica and Cable was knocked down and rebuilt and now has a Dirty Birds and Mr. Moto Pizza, both of which are great.

10. A few new yoga studios, mini-gyms, and hair salons have opened. I don’t patronize those places, but their move-in renovations mean these places all look nicer than the prior tenants. There must be at least 6 yoga places in the central OB area, which I define as Sunset Cliffs to the Beach north of Niagara.

[sdrealtor]

Wow! Lots of changes. It sounds like it is getting as they say up here yupified just like Encinitas. Im sure many of the old timers are equally none too pleased as up here

[gzz]

The boomers were unhappy when Nati’s Mexican closed down after 60 years of operation. It was pretty awful from my two visits over 15 years, expensive but heavy and bland.

I lacked the nostalgic connection with it, though it did evoke ChiChi’s bad Mexican chain food in Ohio in the 1990s. 1990s ChiChi’s was so bad that it had a menu item called “fried ice cream” and even that was bad.

In its place is a drastically better hipster Mexican place that has a great semi-outdoor setup. And the prices are about the same as Nati’s, just better environment and food.

[sdrealtor]

Shame. We have great old Mexican places up here that are excellent and authentic. In wth the new. OB was ripe for gentrification

[gzz]

My grandmother is about to turn 91, but not yet ready to retire from her side gig of house staging:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4505-Long-Branch-Ave-San-Diego-CA-92107/16963044_zpid/

[sdrealtor]

Was she born in 1930? It was the most spectacularist of years. That was the year the greatest person ever was delivered to bring a massive dose of humanity to the world. I see that year when I close my eyes

[svelte]

[quote=sdrealtor]Was she born in 1930? It was the most spectacularist of years. That was the year the greatest person ever was delivered to bring a massive dose of humanity to the world. [/quote]

You must be talking about The Big Bopper. :0)

[gzz]

Yes, Gram was born in 1930.

Her mother was born in 1913 and lived to 2016, meaning in early 2016 my grandmother was 86 years old but had a living mother, which I doubt happens to more than 1 in 10,000 people.

[Author]

Posts