Owners Of San Diego's Historic The Waterfront Bar Purchasing Sycamore Den In Normal Heights

May 23, 2022

The owners of San Diego's historic The Waterfront Bar & Grill are purchasing Normal Heights cocktail hotspot Sycamore Den. 

Local bar operator Nick Zanoni, who launched Thruster's Lounge in Pacific Beach in 2000 when he was only 23, took over the former Lou Jones Inn on Adams Avenue in Normal Heights in early 2013. With the help of local designers Bells & Whistles, later that year Zanoni opened the 1,500 square-foot Sycamore Den, a cocktail lounge inspired by the 1970s dad and built to look like a middle-class family living room. We reported last fall that a liquor license transfer was in the works showing that Sycamore Den was apparently moving a stones throw from its original location into the former Jackson Electric building on Felton Street in Normal Heights. That transfer is still pending but construction on the building has seemingly ceased.

"It would be easy to chalk it up to just being tired," wrote Sycamore Den ownership in a statement posted to the bar's website. "Over the last two years, owning and operating a bar in California felt like playing monopoly in a bounce house. We realized that we were definitely not all in this together….with the exception of maybe Souplantation, they were undoubtedly fucked as well. I’ll spare you the nuanced legal recap,  as anyone reading this already knows, 2020 was a complete shit show. Still, no-one envied the untenable position the pandemic thrust upon elected officials. Spending more time curating draft amicus briefs than draft beer menus, it just seemed things had gone completely bananas. As NYC’s Prune Owner Gabrielle Hamilton’s eloquent restaurant requiem in the New York Times aptly observed, 'It was always hard, but when did it get this hard?'"      

Cousins Chad Cline and Jason "Rocky" Nichols, whose great-grandfather acquired the Waterfront Bar (whose liquor license is the first issued in San Diego after the end of Prohibition) around the late 1960s, are in the process of taking over Sycamore Den. In addition to The Waterfront in Little Italy, the cousins also operate Eastbound in Lakeside, The Hills in La Mesa, Harbor Town and Club Marina in Point Loma, Werewolf in the Gaslamp, Aero Club & Dyno Bar in the Middletown and are in the process of purchasing the building that last housed Chintaown then Brooklyn Bar in City Heights. Under new ownership, Sycamore Den is set to remain mostly as-is, with the exception of a patio refresh, the bar hopes to maintain its same staff and menu. 

Sycamore Den is located at 3391 Adams Avenue in San Diego's Normal Heights neighborhood. For more information, visit sycamoreden.com and read the full sale announcement below.

"To be able express oneself through one’s work, is a real gift in the changing fortunes of time.  It’s been said tumultuous times often double as rare apertures of opportunity. Keeping this in mind, Sycamore Den emerged last summer with our arm raised, albeit battered and bruised, from the bare knuckle fight that defined the bar business in California during the pandemic.  The second half of 2021 was solid, and after a two year hiatus, it was especially rad to see Adams Ave. come alive again and celebrate our 9th Anniversary during Adams Ave. Unplugged.  Accordingly, we sold Sycamore Den this week.  

I met Mary Lou Jones in 2010, and was there with her in 2012 when she handed me the keys to her beloved bar, the day after its 30th Anniversary.  That meant something. Weeks later my partners and I, literally pushed over the entire 30’ bar structure onto the floor, so rotten and decrepit was its wood framing. The Lou Jones Inn had a damn good run.  

Named after the Sycamore trees along the American, conceived in 2006, and opened during Unplugged in 2013, Sycamore was opened with the help of an award winning design team and an all-star roster and the world’s okayest bartender.  We took trips down to Tails and up to PDX, slanging Wolf Tickets, hung a ring on a string in the Den, and Wallbanged the shit out of Harvey.   Over the years, the team has fanned out across the city.  I would say a plethora of babies were born.    

It would be easy to chalk it up to just being tired. Over the last two years, owning and operating a bar in California felt like playing monopoly in a bounce house. We realized that we were definitely not all in this together….with the exception of maybe Souplantation, they were undoubtedly fucked as well. I’ll spare you the nuanced legal recap,  as anyone reading this already knows, 2020 was a complete shit show.  Still, no-one envied the untenable position the pandemic thrust upon elected officials. Spending more time curating draft amicus briefs than draft beer menus, it just seemed things had gone completely bananas. As NYC’s Prune Owner Gabrielle Hamilton’s eloquent restaurant requiem in the New York Times aptly observed, 'It was always hard, but when did it get this hard?'     

In many respects, pandemic policies merely accelerated economic trends already in motion.   Society and culture benefit from the perennial queue of inspired restauranteurs sprinting ahead.  Dare I say, they are essential. Alas, old tavern owners don’t run so good, cause real gangster ass taverns can’t run fast.  Personally, I’d like to believe I’ve earned the stripes on my old salty pirate belt.  I still rock hotmail, and I think my other bar may be so old it’s cool again, but I am unsure.   It does feel a bit counterintuitive to exit when the trajectory is strong, and we’ve poured our hearts into this, but the risk-return analysis has shifted, and its clear we’re going to need a bigger boat. Reading the telltales, the timing and the numbers on the sale made sense.     

Sycamore Den will be in great company as it joins the portfolio of classic neighborhood bars operated by San Diego’s beloved Waterfront/Aero Club Group, which will provide Sycamore the scale needed to evolve and thrive and meet the demands at its current location.   It is an exciting time in our industry, and our city,  and rumor even has it a Souplantation is opening back up.  Sycamore’s Summer menu is about to drop and our entire amazing staff, and line up of entertainers aren’t going anywhere.    It’s been a glorious ride, and a damn good run.  To all past, present and future Sycamore Den alumni, vendors, tradesmen, entertainers, artists, lovers, haters, and Normal Heights neighbors, we love you all and thank you! We’ll be around, and we’ll lock up on our way out.  God speed Sycamore Den.     

(stay turned for some changing of the guard Den gatherings to be announced….)"