The Waterfront — San Diego’s Oldest Bar — Had to Close Due to Violations of Health Inspection

Famous Bar Survived Prohibition, Developers — and Now This

By Jacob Smith / Hoodline / March 26, 2026

The Waterfront Bar & Grill has been pouring drinks in Little Italy since 1933 — the year Prohibition was repealed, the year it all became legal again, and the year San Diego’s oldest tavern planted its flag on Kettner Boulevard and never left. Developers eventually built condos around it rather than demolish it. Celebrities including Gene Wilder and Bill Murray came through. Regulars have been coming for decades.

One of them loved the place so much he asked to have his ashes placed on the north wall when he died, and they honored the request. So it takes more than a health inspection closure to rattle a place like this — but that’s exactly what happened on March 25, 2026, when San Diego County inspectors found a major vermin violation and ordered the doors shut.

What Inspectors Found
The routine inspection on March 25 flagged five violations, according to records on SD Food Info: a major vermin violation (the category that triggers automatic closure), a minor food contact surfaces finding, and three out-of-compliance findings covering toilet facilities, premises and vermin-proofing, and floors, walls, and ceilings. A site investigation conducted the same day found no violations — a standard parallel check — but the routine inspection’s major pest finding was sufficient to close the bar.

What makes the closure harder to dismiss as a fluke is the inspection history leading up to it. The Waterfront has had a vermin finding of some kind in every routine inspection since at least 2024. In May 2024, inspectors flagged a minor vermin violation alongside food storage, plumbing, and toilet facilities issues — the bar still earned an “A” that cycle. In May 2025, another minor vermin violation appeared, again paired with toilet facilities and floors and ceilings findings, and again the bar held its “A” grade after a clean reinspection. An environmental inspection in August 2025 flagged hot and cold water, personal cleanliness, and warewashing facilities. Now, in 2026, the vermin finding has escalated from minor to major — the level that closes a business, per SD Food Info. Three years of vermin findings, each year a little worse.

The toilet facilities violation also deserves a mention. It has appeared in every routine inspection since at least 2023. That’s not a one-off finding — that’s a maintenance issue that has been flagged repeatedly and hasn’t been resolved to the county’s satisfaction.

A Bar That San Diego Built Around
Whatever the current inspection status, The Waterfront’s place in San Diego history is not in question. It was opened on December 5, 1933 — Repeal Day, the day Prohibition ended — by Chaffee Grant and Clair Blakley, as documented by the San Diego Reader. It became a gathering spot for the Italian and Portuguese fishermen who worked the tuna fleets anchored at the nearby Embarcadero, and the fishing nets and trophy swordfish on the walls are a direct reference to that era. It holds the oldest full liquor license in the city, according to San Diego Magazine.

When development came to Little Italy and developers wanted the lot, they chose to build around The Waterfront rather than tear it down. As co-owner Chad Cline explained in an interview with Little Italy Condos, architect Jonathan Segal worked out a deal with the family because he liked what the Waterfront represented — and the result is a Little Italy landmark with a condo tower literally surrounding it. The bar is now co-owned by Nancy Nichols, who took over in the 1980s, and her grandsons Chad Cline and Rocky Nichols. As SanDiegoVille reported in January 2026, the ownership group has been quietly expanding its footprint across San Diego, recently taking over the former Fluxx Nightclub space in the Gaslamp Quarter — with a reputation built more on longevity and community than on flash.

The bar celebrates its birthday every year on December 5 — Repeal Day — and is fast approaching its centennial in 2033. Per its own website: “Things have changed so much since then, but not much has changed here.” That line has always read as nostalgic charm. In the context of recurring toilet facilities and vermin findings, it lands a little differently.

The Broader San Diego Pattern
The Waterfront’s March 25 closure is one of dozens of vermin-related closures hitting San Diego County establishments this year, part of a surge that SanDiegoVille documented as exceeding 300 closures and downgrades countywide in 2025 alone. A separate SanDiegoVille investigation pointed to California’s AB 2552 — the Poison-Free Wildlife Act, which banned most anticoagulant rodenticides effective January 1, 2025 — as a contributing factor, with operators reporting increased difficulty managing pest populations after losing access to traditional rodent control tools. That’s valid context, but it doesn’t fully explain findings that have been recurring at The Waterfront for at least three consecutive years.

The bar’s current status can be checked at sdfoodinfo.org. The Waterfront can be reached at (619) 232-9656.