r/sandiego • u/SD_TMI • 15h ago

SD History 1986 Elephant Bar in La Jolla (unknown eater review - news8)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_OHR0m8eq8

Yeah I just thought this might be funny to see all the yuppies and how expensive it was for 3 people to eat a dinner in La Jolla.

17 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

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8

u/Nightnightgun 15h ago edited 14h ago

LOVE the channel8 throwback archives!!! 

They have a whole series about Back To School shopping in La Jolla in the olden days... 

https://youtu.be/ajuFKqGda9w

A limo to Elephant Bar!?!! Those were the days (I mean, not for me, but for those "yuppies" LOL)

9

u/SD_TMI 12h ago

The Elephant bar eventually closed and then was purchased by Rock Bottom... which as far as I was concerned had the best "California" Irish Red Ale they used to brew in house.
I got a pony keg for my birthday on year and shared it with my Irish Blood Grandma.
Her first words were "Oh that's Good Beer!" and then proceeded to tell me about how she'd used to get a bucket or beer and haul it back as a little girl to her home in NYC.
It instantly reminded her of her childhood in that old Irish neighborhood.. things I NEVER heard before from her.

Good times drinking the last of that pony with her in my parents backyard in the 90's (RIP Grandma)

Other people have posted about this in the sub

6

u/HallEqual2433 7h ago

Years ago, I had a manager who LOVED beer. It would be HER idea to have a team lunch at Rock Bottom.

...2 hour team lunch, shooting pool at Rock Bottom, those were the days.

1980s E-Bar story...college girlfriend had parents visiting, they took her to the E-Bar (in Santa Barbara) for dinner. Dad had beer, mom had wine, GF wasn't old enough to drink. Driving back to campus, cop pulls them over, doesn't give a ticket, but insists GF has to drive them back to motel.

1

u/SD_TMI 1h ago

I went to a open bar and table promotional event put on by a local internet start up in the late 90's at Rock Bottom.
Lots of people in the mix there... LOTS OF MONEY being discussed.

Those were the days.

I got a pitcher of that red ale poured for me and I sat down with a bunch of appetizers with a few glasses and picked up a long list of corporate sponsors for a 10,000 person event I was working on.

2

u/2coocooforcats 2h ago

The clothes were expensive!!

6

u/mggirard13 7h ago

$55 in 1986 is $167 today... dinner for three with app, entrees, and drinks!

Also strange complaint / "problem" to be served or otherwise waited upon by multiple staff. Oh no, different people brought us our food who weren't the person who took our order! (But did this cause any actual problems with service?)

3

u/cheezebergereddie 6h ago

“If you are be ready to wait”

Hostess: “Will be just a few minutes”

2

u/asterothe1905 5h ago

I went a couple times to the one in RB.

0

u/Unruly_Prawn 2h ago

LOL. "A dinner for three was a little pricy at $55" .... cute.

1

u/GotSeoul 2h ago

There was an Elephant Bar in Rancho Bernardo. In the facility I worked in the 90s and 2000s there were 4 buildings, A, B, C, and D. We would refer to offsite afternoon excursions to the Elephant Bar as 'meeting at Building E'.

1

u/MattManSD 2h ago

Played a couple gigs there