If you've been surfing around Cardiff/George's/Seaside recently, you probably noticed the Beach House Restaurant has shut it's doors for a looooooooong overdue remodel. Basically they were living off the fact they were right on the ocean- best seat in town. But the building had cracks, the joints were rusting, the stucco was peeling, and the carpet was worn. They were so busy though, it seemed like they could do no wrong. Heck- people were showing up for brunch, lunch, and dinner, DESPITE the outward appearance.
Then along came
Pacific Coast Grill next door in the summer of 2012 and the Beach House instantly seemed OLD. It was night and day between the two. Basically the young locals frequented Pacific Coast Grill and the Beach House was left with the old tourists.
Funny thing is that the Chart House was remodeled
years ago and it still looks good today while the Beach House opened in 1993 but the décor smelled like 1980. Now back to that sign that says 'remodel' at the Beach House. Are they pulling our leg?... The
San Diego Reader reported last week that on Monday, February 3, employees arriving at the Beach House Restaurant in Cardiff were surprised to learn they no longer had a job. Servers Justin and Dylan arrived at 10:00 a.m. to find the owners taking items out of the building. The managing partner, Nick Pike, told them that the restaurant was closed. “No one had a clue, “ said Justin. The Beach House, at 2530 S. Coast Highway 101, had been a fixture on Cardiff’s beachfront Restaurant Row for 20 years. It offered oceanfront fine-dining downstairs and upstairs, with a light menu served on the deck overlooking the beach. At 10:00 a.m. on February 5, some 20 employees showed up in the parking lot under the assumption the owners would be there by noon with their final paychecks. The manager of the valet-parking service was also there with several of his valets. He said the restaurant owed his firm $25,000. A driver for Alsco linen service arrived to drop off the next week’s linens.
Servers Jenell and Alisha said the restaurant's quality had been going down for months. “We lost most of our regular customers.” said Jenell. “We had mostly tourists; they’d come for the view.” Alisha added, “Our paychecks often bounced. Sometimes we’d have to tell customers it was cash-only, that our credit-card machine was down, just to get enough cash to be paid.” Other former employees said the manager put up work schedules last week and recently hired five new employees. As the former employees milled around waiting, a banner was posted over the monument sign facing Coast Highway 101, reading, “Closed for Remodel.” A former employee said it was “complete B.S. The building’s owners may be reopening, but those guys [the current owners] aren’t.” The general manager opened the back door of the restaurant. Some of the group went upstairs to the deck to grab a beer. Others were asked to wait outside. Owned by the Pike family of Orange County, the restaurant’s flagship location in Laguna Beach closed after last summer. But these haven't been the only times the Pike family name has been in the restaurant news.
The Pike family was one of the franchisees for Bob’s Big Boy, which they attempted to revive in Southern California. The firm’s four restaurants in Baker, El Cajon, Hesperia, and Temecula have all closed. (Nine other franchised Bob’s Big Boys are still in operation in Southern California.) The
L.A. Times reported last year that a federal court ordered the Pike company to pay more than $40,000 in damages and franchise fees to the franchisor, Ellis Brothers Big Boy, headquartered in Michigan, and to cease and desist using the Big Boy image and signs on their restaurants.
The Pike family also owns the “World’s Tallest Thermometer,” located next to the Baker Big Boy location. The I-15 landmark reportedly cost $8000 a month in electricity and was turned off a few years ago. It is reportedly up for sale for $1.25 million. Long story short... I hope whoever now owns the former Beach House does a good job on the alleged remodel to help keep the integrity which is Cardiff's 'Restaurant Row'.
Speaking of the 'Row', what is the history behind this stretch of coast and it's eclectic restaurants? The San Diego Union Tribune shed some light on the area back in 2006 with an article titled
'Restaurant Row Has A Long Tasty History' (clever those journalists). So the story goes, Restaurant Row, located along South Coast Highway 101, dominates a pristine stretch of coastal real estate. Nestled between Cardiff State Beach to the south and San Elijo State Beach to the north, this area has been known for its restaurants going back to 1916.
Over the decades, the ambience and eateries may have changed, the architecture updated and improved, but back then, as now, the food and the views were the main attractions. Solana Beach resident John Kentera, who once owned the Leucadian bar in Leucadia, remembers well the most southerly situated restaurant and hotel, the Beacon Inn, constructed in 1928, with its dominant landmark feature, a lighthouse.
“I worked there around 1950 when Ray McCullough, from Chula Vista, was the owner. Jimmy Thompson managed it for him, and Eddie Scoville and myself tended bar,” Kentera said. Scoville, who also worked at the Del Mar Hotel, as did Kentera, later became superintendent of the Thoroughbred Club at the Del Mar Racetrack. According to San Diego Union archives, Bud Brubaker, director of operations at the racetrack in 1987, recalled how comedian Joe Frisco joked about the Beacon Inn during one of his comedy acts, “For a small hotel they sure gotta large swimming pool,” Frisco quipped. The inn had 20 rooms in the 1950s and was built overlooking the Pacific. Musical entertainment was a big draw. “There was a band called the Three Guys, who would play there every night,” Kentera recalled. Consisting of a drummer, a horn player and a guitarist, the band was well-received. Between sets, Red Shay would sing and play banjo. “He was a lifeguard during the day,” Kentera said. Adding spice to the entertainment was Texas Bobby. She was a first-rate stripper, Kentera said. She also worked at a club called the Hollywood Theater in downtown San Diego but would head up to North County during peak season. She performed twice every night except Sunday, at 9 p.m. then again at 11 p.m. “The place was always packed,” Kentera said. Eateries like the Beacon Inn and George's Restaurant, next door, buzzed with movie stars, top jockeys and horse racing fans during the racing season. “Betty Grable, Harry James and Jimmy Durante were often there,” Kentera said.
George's Restaurant, originally opened in 1916 by Cardiff resident George Beech, was constructed in part using lumber that came from the Cardiff Kelp Works. The kelp works was a large structure that once stood near the east side of the railroad tracks north of the San Elijo Lagoon mouth. The reputation of George's menus was attributed in large part to his homegrown vegetables, which came from his hillside garden where he also grew prize-winning roses. By 1950, Marion San Clemente (Beech's son-in-law) ran George's. There was no menu; customers chose from steak, lobster and chicken, plus trimmings. Joe DiMaggio, Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy were some of George's most notable customers, according to columns written by Wendy Haskett, an Encinitas historian who died this year (2006). The Beach House, Charlie's By The Sea and the Chart House now occupy the real estate where the Beacon Inn and George's once stood (which as of today is just Chart House and the newer Pacific Coast Grill). The Beacon Inn closed in 1962 after its final New Year's Eve party, and was demolished in 1965. Wooden pilings, sometimes visible at low tide, are all that remain.
