They seem to keep coming. Yet another Ocean Beach restaurant has applied for an alcohol license to sell beer and wine.
This time it’s Hummus Mediterranean Kitchen at 4884 Newport Avenue – they put up their notice on April 20. They’ve applied for a 41 type of license, an “on-sale beer and wine – eating place.”
After all the brouhaha caused by other restaurants also applying for alcohol serving licenses, one might think that another attempt to add booze to an eatery’s menu would not have come up so quickly. Dirty Birds has had their full license stalled and perhaps more, it could be permanently dead-in-the-water, while their next door neighbor Mr. Moto Pizza House still is attempting to obtain their beer and wine license.
NO MORE LIQUOR LICENSES IN OB, NO EXCEPTIONS
There are plenty of existing businesses with them, buy one if you want to sell booze so badly.
Yep, looks like OB is heading for the Guinness Book of Records: “Smallest district with the most alcohol licenses in the US”…
More people, more booze. It’s the American way.
More people more booze is the American way? I have never heard that saying. I think that you just made it up.
Unlike Dirty Birds – which is a bar that serves food. Hummus is a restaurant that wants to serve beer/wine same as Mr. Moto Pizza.
Honestly, not sure what everyone is freaking out about – will 1-4 more establishments serving booze (along with food) cause any problems? No. Are there severe problems now with the booze in town? No. How much money does booze/brewery bring into OB? A Lot. Would people visit OB if we didn’t have such a diversity of nightlife? Not really. Anyone remember the 1980s and 1990s? Do you miss skid row OB?
What are the biggest problems in Ocean Beach? 1) Lack of Quality of Life around pier and seawall including litter and homeless travelers from every corner of the country; 2) Rundown, poorly used residential buildings, 3) Air bnb taking over every piece of real estate and turning our community into a 3d rate hotel, and 4) the persistent nimbyism of people in relation to all things “development” – no target, no alternative transportation, no new buildings, no more booze, etc. etc.
The problem is exception after exception on liquor licenses help to create the situation of excessive ones now.
Right now it appears “bar” and “beer taste room” and “restaurant with alcohol” are the tenants that can pay the most rent, which is why that’s a large share of new tenants, or in the case of bar never ever go out of business and close. When those types of places can’t open, rents will go down until they are attractive to other types of businesses.
Would the new OB Lanes bowling ally, a completely new type of business and the only one in a beach town in San Diego county, be opening up if the landlord could turn the space into a full bar? Probably not. (The old tenant was a catering company).
“…diversity of nightlife?…” Huh?
Haha, I thought about commenting on “diversity of nightlife”, too, but then thought maybe that would be rude… :-)
Well, as Barth Gimble and Jerry Hubbard used to quip, “If you can’t joke with your community, who can you joke with?”
Yep :-)
you know a variety of places to go out at night and socialize – talk with neighbors, listen to music, drink and eat local fare…do you think people just show up in OB to look at the homeless and shop antiques?
OBkid, I think what Vern and I were musing over were your choices of words- diversity and variety- when referring to the night life in OB. Obviously one’s view of ‘diverse’ is fairly subjective, (and btw, I’ve never been to an antique shop in OB, and would rather help the homeless than simply look at them), but I would hardly call OB nightlife “diverse”.
Mr. Moto, not Motto. This is the third time I’ve seen it spelled incorrectly and not just on here!
OB Mercy – here’s why it’s confusing: according to their alcohol application notice, the business name is “Mr. Motto Pizza House” but the owner is “Signore Moto Corporation.” Yet, as you correctly point out, it’s “Mr. Moto Pizza House” on their website. You’d think they’d have the correct spelling on their notice – or maybe ABC filled it out. Anyway, thanks for your diligence and patience.
“… From 2007 to 2017, the number of deaths attributable to alcohol increased 35 percent, according to a new analysis by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. The death rate rose 24 percent…”.
Thinning out the herd.
way to be self righteous Vern – it’s a restaurant that serves food and drink …not an intravenous alcohol station
drink less, live more.