Review

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At the Beachcomber, students and old surfers hang together

By Maggie Grainger

December 19, 2005

Mission Beach--In a town with over a million people, it’s amazing how small San Diego can feel at times. This can be either a really good thing or a really bad thing. It’s good when you run into that hot guy from your English class and finally work up the liquid courage to start a conversation with him. It’s a bad thing when you run into your ex-roommate who has a knack for staring people down and spilling drinks all over the place.

But that’s what makes San Diego nightlife so interesting. You never know who you might meet, bump into, have to avoid, or reconnect on cosmic levels with.

This is one of the main reasons I love to frequent the Beachcomber bar in south Mission Beach on Friday nights.

On Friday nights, college kids, recent grads, grandparents and older couples all mingle together to drink some beer, listen to quality tunes and eat popcorn from the communal machine in the back of the bar.

I first heard about Pint Night from my ex-boyfriend who lives down the street from the joint. Whenever he would deign to call me, he would go on and on about the ‘Comber’ and all the fun he had there. I shrugged off his rambling and dismissed the place as a “bro” bar…that is, until my roommate came home one Friday night plastered and jabbering away about how she just randomly ended up at this bar in Mission Beach that had endless amounts of cheap beer, dancing and hot guys everywhere.

I was sold.

After being inside for less than five minutes, I had already  run into the stoner who lives two houses down from me, my five best guy friends who had stumbled in from the beach and the guy I knew from my English class at San Diego State my freshman year.

I went straight to the bar where four bartenders were busily pouring drinks and running all over the place to accommodate everybody.

I ordered four beers to take back to my table. My roommate did the same.

Waiting to get my Buds, I took a moment to look around and take it all in, and as I looked around I realized there was a major sausage fest going on.

Guys and booze. Put simply: I was in heaven.

Walking to the back of the bar, I decided to try my hand at pool and struck up a conversation with some guys from the “other” school—UCSD. They were nice, but I soon found myself distracted and talking to a guy I used to work with.

For the next two hours I rotated between the bar, dance floor and back room.

And I didn’t run into my ex once.

I have since found an excuse to go there almost every Friday before continuing the party in either Pacific Beach or Ocean Beach.

Beachcomber’s has a way of putting everybody in a good mood the second you enter. It’s one of the only bars I’ve been to where it’s okay for the young and old to get rowdy together under one roof. Also, it’s not creepy if the old guy at the end of the bar tries to strike up a conversation with you—chances are, he has a good surfing story and isn’t just trying to pick up college tail.

The music is also fun, with Journey, 50 cent and Sublime playing alongside each other. While the bar wasn’t built for dancing, people manage to get down and dirty in every conceivable open space, sometimes getting in the way of the people clamoring to get another beer at the bar. Women: be careful of the guy who comes up behind you to dance—it just might be that guy you made out with one drunken night Downtown, or your friend’s dad.

Beachcomber

2901 Mission Blvd.

San Diego, CA 92109

858.488.2644