Ocean Beach is about to say goodbye to a name, not a landmark. Winston’s Beach Club, the live music bar that’s anchored 1921 Bacon Street for nearly 39 years, played its final show under that name on September 22 and is closing for a quick, five-day turnaround before reopening under a new identity on September 27.
The change isn’t a shutdown story — it’s an ownership and business-model story that local business owners will recognize. Longtime co-owner Scott Slaga, who also owns Pacific Beach’s 710 Beach Club, is buying out his former partners and bringing in a new co-owner as the venue tries to solve a problem plaguing small, independent music rooms everywhere: covering the bills isn’t the same as turning a profit. Slaga has been candid that rising touring costs, shifting nightlife habits, and lean post-pandemic margins made the old model unsustainable for a room with a capacity under 500.
The fix is a broader one than a paint job. The reopened venue will add a full-service kitchen serving pub food, extend hours to noon-to-2 a.m. seven days a week, upgrade its sound and lighting, and drop nightly cover charges in favor of a business built around food and drink revenue rather than ticket sales alone. A new general manager, Brandon Colt, is coming aboard, and the booking focus is shifting toward local San Diego musicians, cover bands, and tribute acts, with electronic and dance nights and the return of comedy shows rounding out the calendar.
Here’s the part longtime regulars actually care about: Grateful Dead Mondays, the Electric Waste Band’s beloved weekly residency, isn’t going anywhere. The band is expected to keep its Monday slot at the same Bacon Street address once the new name is unveiled — organizers say an announcement is coming around September 25, with a “Last Call” celebration for the old name set for September 26.
For Ocean Beach, it’s a reminder that even a nearly 40-year-old institution has to keep reinventing itself to survive changing consumer habits, and that reinvention doesn’t have to mean losing what made a place special in the first place.
Source: Times of San Diego
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