WATERFRONT
THROUGH THE DECADES

Open since 1933, Waterfront is the only bar in San Diego that's seen every version of Little Italy — from working waterfront to redevelopment to today's restaurant row.

1933–1950s: The fishermen's bar

Prohibition ended December 5, 1933. Waterfront opened the same year. Little Italy was a tuna-fishing neighborhood — Genoese and Sicilian families, canneries down the block, longshoremen finishing shifts at the harbor. The bar was where they came after work. It poured beer, fed the room, and stayed open late.

1960s–1980s: The neighborhood quiets down

The tuna fleet moved away. The canneries closed. The 5 freeway split the neighborhood in half. A lot of bars folded. Waterfront didn't. The regulars changed — more downtown, more navy, more whoever lived in the apartments above Kettner — but the door stayed open every single day.

1990s–2010s: Little Italy comes back

Redevelopment finally hit. The Piazza, the Saturday market, the restaurant boom on India Street. Waterfront didn't redecorate to keep up. It stayed exactly the kind of room it's always been, which is why the new neighborhood adopted it instantly. The dive bar is the anchor.

Today

Same bar, same building, same job. 8am to 2am, every day. The room has 91 years of stories in it, and another one starts whenever someone new walks in.