Brooklyn Bar & Grill in City Heights buzzed with patrons Thursday evening, the kind of scene its owner, Bill Lutzius, had eagerly anticipated for the past year.
Early on COVID-19 forced business owners to lay off longtime bartenders and wait staff, scraping by on government assistance until life could return to normal.
That day now appears fast approaching, but Lutzius won’t see it. Last week, he was found at his Mission Hills home, dead at age 63 of an apparent heart attack.
“We thought we had more time with him,” said a teary-eyed Denise Larson, who helped organize a celebration of Lutzius’ life at Brooklyn Bar on Thursday.
“We’ve been friends for, like, forever. He was the best man at my wedding,” added Larson, who worked for Lutzius as a bartender before going on to become an architect.
Denise Larson embraces her husband Adam Davalos while sharing memories of their dear friend Bill Lutzius on the upstairs patio at Brooklyn Bar & Grill on Monday.
(Sam Hodgson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
A photo montage of the Brooklyn native’s life played on a screen against a soundtrack of classic rock. Visibly shaken, Kevin McEuen hustled to fill orders for the fashionably dressed patrons at the bar.
“I haven’t had a chance to process all this,” he said. “I really did think Bill and I were going to make it through the finish line together. I’m definitely still in shock.”
As vaccinations rise, much of San Diego has resumed its pre-pandemic routines. The state will move to a full reopening on June 15, with most businesses facing no restrictions on indoor capacity.
That will be a relief to the business owners and employees in this diverse City Heights neighborhood at the intersection of University and Euclid avenues. It has been a hard year for the block’s ethnic restaurants, services and entertainment venues such as punk icon The Tower Bar.
As friends gather for a celebration of life for Bill Lutzius, the seat that he often occupied remains empty for a few minutes.
(Sam Hodgson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
As the pandemic dragged on, Lutzius could be found sitting at his empty bar, chain-smoking cigarettes, watching old movies and reviewing grim financial records. At one point, he said he was losing about $10,000 a month.
Still, his friends said he always carved out time to support others, like when he recently helped Shimeles Kibret construct a dining patio next door at his Ethiopian restaurant, Red Sea.
The 60-year-old refugee wore a sport coat and flashed a soft smile at Thursday’s event. His own journey through the pandemic was shaky. Red Sea was saved by the generosity of friends who, among other things, helped Kibret secure emergency government loans.
Shimeles Kibret, owner of the Red Sea Ethiopian Restaurant, joins other friends as they gather for a celebration of life for Lutzius.
(Sam Hodgson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Sipping a Guinness, Kibret said he’s optimistic about the future of the neighborhood, but the loss of his friend has left him “heartbroken.”
A few stools down, Vinny Picardi, sporting tortoiseshell-rimmed glasses and a coral blazer, said he grew up with Lutzius in Brooklyn. He made the trip down from his current home in Long Beach for the event.
“He loved his job and the people so much,” said Picardi, 64, a creative director for TV commercials. “I think the pandemic weighed heavily on him.”
Denise Larson looks at childhood pictures of her close friend Bill Lutzius in the office at Brooklyn Bar & Grill on Monday.
(Sam Hodgson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Lutzius was raised in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, in the ‘70s, the middle child of five siblings. A self-described black sheep of the family, he would regularly skip school to drink with friends and gawk at Vietnam War protestors at a nearby park, he said in an interview last summer.
Lutzius said he had his first beer in a bar at age 13.
“Back then, beer wasn’t the devil, you know?” he said. “I could sit there as a little kid drinking a beer next to my friend’s father.”
His youngest sibling, John Lutzius, remembered his brother’s street smarts paid off when he was able to track down a neighborhood tough who just hours earlier had stolen John’s new 10-speed bicycle.
“It was one of those hero stories, my brother the dragon slayer,” said the 58-year-old. “How did he know where to go? It was astonishing.”
John Lutzius shares memories of his brother Bill Lutzius while posted up a the bar on Monday.
(Sam Hodgson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
As a teenager, Lutzius developed a fondness for rebuilding muscle cars, following in the footsteps of his father, William Lutzius Sr., who was also known for his mechanical prowess. Bill eventually got his GED and completed an automotive repair course.
“Bill disliked school,” said his sister Pat Krumm, 62. “At the same time, he was reading the New York Times every day.”
As adults, Lutzius helped his kid brother relocate to Southern California, inviting him, his wife and their two cats to stay at his home in Harbor City. An avid motorcycle rider, Lutzius fixed up an old Harley-Davidson and gave it to his brother so they could cruise around together.
Then, in the mid-aughts, Lutzius decided to leave a towing business in San Juan Capistrano to buy the Aero Club next to San Diego International Airport.
John Lutzius said he worried about his brother’s quixotic plan, which involved taking out a roughly $160,000 cash advance on nearly a dozen credit cards.
“His family was saying, ‘How can you buy a bar when you’ve never worked at a bar?’” he said. “You can’t tell Bill anything. If you say something, he’s more likely to do the opposite.”
Lutzius’ plan prevailed, and Aero Club became a cult success, riding the early tailwinds of urban hipster culture.
A sign outside of Brooklyn Bar & Grill on University Avenue announced the one-night-only cash bar in celebration of Lutzius.
(Sam Hodgson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
His friends noted that Lutzius was strangely erudite for someone who dropped out of high school, regularly forcing his patrons to endure foreign films.
“He refused to have sports on, and he would play these Fellini films,” said Barbara Combs, 45, whom Lutzius hired about 15 years ago to tend bar at Aero Club, despite her having no formal training or experience.
“He was such a force of nature, such a great guy to work for,” she added. “Everyone loved him.”
Eventually, the lifelong entrepreneur sold the bar for a tidy $800,000, he said, after the property was acquired by a pair of local restaurant moguls.
Lutzius had already started the Chinatown Bar & Grill, later to be renamed Brooklyn Bar & Grill. He sank his windfall into overhauling the City Heights building, complete with rooftop patio and a well-stocked bar.
“I didn’t want to do something in the trendy areas, 30th Street or wherever,” Lutzius explained in June. “I was looking for a neighborhood tavern.”
It’s not clear what’s going to happen to Brooklyn Bar. John Lutzius would only say that Bill left it to someone in the family.
A view of Brooklyn Bar & Grill as friends gather to celebrate Lutzius on Thursday.
(Sam Hodgson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
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