Mick Rosller regrets having just purchased several kegs of beer, beer that may very well go stale now that San Diego County has once again pulled the plug on establishments that just serve alcohol.
“We did spend quite a bit of money in the last couple weeks,” Rosller said solemnly, seated on a barstool. “It seems like there’s riskier businesses than us that are still operating. It doesn’t make sense.”
It was only two weeks ago that Rosller’s The Tower Bar in City Heights reopened, with plexiglass barriers and other safeguards against the coronavirus. Now he’s determined not to let the latest lockdown kill his business.
“Not unless it’s a …” the 52-year-old owner of the iconic punk bar said softly in his Aussie accent, pausing mid-sentence. “I mean, no. I can’t see any reason, unless it goes on for a really long time. If anything, I’ll just have to borrow money, like go into debt.”
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Rolling dice play in the credits of a movie inside The Tower Bar on June 29, 2020 in San Diego, California.
(Sam Hodgson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The order to close bars follows a surge in coronavirus cases among younger adults, as well as a spate of outbreaks linked to restaurants and bars. The latter is defined as three or more cases from different households traced back to a specific location.
Top health officials, in recent days, have watched in dismay as late-night clubs and other establishments, especially in the Gaslamp and Little Italy, filled with inebriated patrons, many flouting facemask and social-distancing rules. They said lockdown restrictions on bars wouldn’t be revisited until August at the earliest.
It’s a step back for the neighborhood around University and Euclid avenues as it struggles to rebound from the pandemic. It’s also a harsh reminder that the road to recovery could be unpredictable, forcing business owners and workers to make tough choices along the way.
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Before the recent restrictions, Rosller and others had hoped Tower Bar could soon resume staging the live music that made it a local punk landmark.
Sean “Bones” Davis, 50, who’s tended bar there for the last three years, expressed confidence that if the venue was on the brink of collapse, the local community would step in with fundraisers and other support.
“Tower Bar is like a staple in San Diego and in like the punk and rock and roll scene,” he said. “So it’s like there’s a lot of people that support it.”
Shutting down bars could be only the start of rolling back San Diego’s brief return to nightlife. A week ago, restaurants were ordered to close by 10 p.m. and serve alcohol only with food. Late Thursday, the county announced that based on a record number of COVID-19 cases, it expects dine-in restaurants, museums, zoos and movie theaters, among other activities, to face new restrictions as early as Tuesday.
Even absent such an official decree, some people seem increasingly wary of drinking and eating out.
Bill Lutzius, owner of Brooklyn Bar & Grill drinks a beer at a mostly-empty bar shortly after learning that modifications would have to be made to the way he ran the business.
(Sam Hodgson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
“Last few days have been pretty bad,” said Bill Lutzius, owner of Brooklyn Bar & Grill on University Avenue, down the block from Tower Bar. “It’s slow. You know, we’re not making money. We’re losing money.”
Lutzius, 62, is considering a range of options. He could close shop for a year and still survive, especially if he took out a mortgage on his building. He’s also considered just selling the business — that is, if he can find a buyer.
“I just don’t know what to feel,” he said, sipping a pint of lager between cigarette breaks. “I really feel like we’ve got a huge, huge problem, and I think that you probably have a huge economic catastrophe coming, like a rolling thunder kind of thing, and I think I’m mixed up in it.”
Bill Lutzius, owner of Brooklyn Bar & Grill takes a drag from a cigarette outside the bar.
(Sam Hodgson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
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“I worked at The Office, and I was more of a babysitter than anything. ‘Sir, put your mask on. No dancing. You cannot join that group. Six feet.’”
Bartender Marie Sanudo
About a dozen patrons lined the restaurant’s bar on Tuesday afternoon, the last day before the new lockdown orders went into effect. Eighty-year-old Maria Ruiz was there drinking her usual: a pint of beer backed with a glass of water, no ice.
Lutzius has had trouble finding people to work. Some are too scared of getting sick, while others don’t want to upend their unemployment benefits. That night, he was able to secure Marie Sanudo to tend bar. The 38-year-old worked for him at his previous establishment, The Aero Club Bar, located just north of Little Italy.
Sanudo, an intrenched part of the local hospitality industry, has been picking up shifts at different places to help out friends. She said that it’s been tiresome trying to get some bar-goers to follow the new rules.
“I worked at The Office, and I was more of a babysitter than anything,” she said. “‘Sir, put your mask on. No dancing. You cannot join that group. Six feet.’”
Marie Sanudo, a bartender at Brooklyn Bar and Grill, chats with customers.
(Sam Hodgson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
She said that since the restrictions eased on bars, she’s been hearing about more and more stories of people getting sick.
“It’s ‘My best friend’s mom has it.’ It’s, ‘Oh, did you hear the bartender from the Whistle Stop had it? Did you hear we had some friends that work down in Little Italy that work in bars and restaurants that got it, and now the whole place is closed down?’”
Flagging down Sanudo for another shot, Chad Walery, 46, said he blames “millennials” who have been partying downtown for the recent surge in cases.
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Chad Walery, 46, of City Heights, drinks a beer at The Tower Bar while talking to bartender Christina Hankins on the last night the bar was allowed to be open.
(Sam Hodgson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
“Have some common sense and understand that we all have to do our part and do the right thing,” he said chasing the liquor with a beer, “and if you don’t, it’s going to ... up everything that people are trying to accomplish and we’re trying to do. I mean, it’s not brain science.”
Down the bar, Soroya Rowley enjoyed hamburgers and drinks with two friends. She is worried about the virus but not enough to stay home.
“Personally, I wish they would let the bars stay open and let the people decide to put themselves in that situation or not,” said the 33-year-old City Height resident, “because there are certain other kinds of businesses that are allowed to stay open, and I just don’t see the difference between bars and salons.
“I work for a university, and we’re planning to open up,” she added. “If you can open those kinds of establishments safely then I think you can open a bar safely, as long as you’re doing the same kinds of protocols.”
Soroya Rowley has a round of drinks at The Tower Bar on the last night that it was allowed to be open.
(Sam Hodgson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Later that night, Walery, Rowley and her group walked down to Tower Bar for another round. Bartender Christina Hankins was talking to her friend Manny Lutz, who stopped in to say hi and drink a few beers.
Hankins said that for the most part people have respected the rules around wearing masks and distancing, but there were a few notable exceptions.
“This group of guys from Temecula came down, like six guys on motorcycles,” she said, “and I was like, ‘Can you throw your masks on before you come in and once you sit down you can take them off.’ And they’re like, ‘Goddamn California rules.’
Christina Hankins, a bartender at The Tower Bar, cleans a mask in the bathroom on the last night that the bar was allowed to be open.
(Sam Hodgson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
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“Hopefully, tonight doesn’t get crazy, so I don’t get COVID tonight,” the 35-year-old added, only half joking.
Lutz, 31, said he agrees with closing the bars. His parents live in El Centro, a city ravaged by the virus.
“I thought it was a bit weird when they opened up again,” he said. He doesn’t know anyone in his hometown who is socializing in bars “This is not happening down there, and if it is, none of my family members are doing it.”
With the bar closed again, Hankins said she’s thinking about getting into a different line of work, although she’s not exactly sure what that would be.
“It’s not a super good feeling to not be working and be on unemployment, but I guess it’s a little different because everyone’s in the same boat,” she said.
The sign on the outside of The Tower Bar is lit up just hours after it was announced that they would have to shut down.
(Sam Hodgson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
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