Classic San Diego Restaurants

Welcome! Sit down, relax, and enjoy the fascinating story of San Diego’s colorful restaurant world from by-gone days.

Call for Submissions
We’re always looking for old photos, menus, postcards and memorabilia from Classic San Diego restaurants! If you have any, share in our Facebook Group, or please contact us. We may use them in an upcoming article!

Aloha Club, Tijuana, 1930s

Aloha Cafe, Tijuana

Jul 30, 2016

1952-Neon-Alley-Aloha-Club-Charles-Phoenix

Aloha Club

Aug 22, 2016

Bradley’s Puka-Puka

Aug 03, 2017

Caesar Cardini Cafe marquee, San Diego, 1936.

Caesar Cardini Cafe

Feb 21, 2016

Caesar Cardini Villa in 2016

Caesar Cardini Villa

Dec 16, 2016

Caesar's Anniversary ad, 1931

Caesar’s Restaurant, Hillcrest

Feb 28, 2016

Caesar's Tijuana, 2016

Caesar’s Restaurant, Tijuana

Dec 28, 2017

Calypso Joe's

Calypso Joe’s

Jan 17, 2017

Casa de Bandini Restaurant, Old Town San Diego

Casa de Bandini

Sep 08, 2017

Chee Chee Club, San Diego, 2017.

Chee-Chee Club

May 22, 2017

Chi-Chi Restaurants match cover art

Chi-Chi Club, San Diego

May 27, 2016

Christian’s Hut / The Hut

Aug 15, 2016

Don Jose greeting his guests

Don Jose’s

Jan 12, 2021

Don the Beachcomber at Vacation Village

Don the Beachcomber, Harbor Island

Aug 23, 2016

Don the Beachcomber Vacation Village San Diego

Don the Beachcomber, Vacation Village

Dec 17, 2016

Foreign Club Cafe de Luxe and cabaret

Foreign Club, Tijuana

Aug 08, 2017

George Joe’s La Mesa in 1977

George Joe’s Chinese Village

Nov 22, 2019

1952-Neon-Alley-Hula-Hut-Charles-Phoenix

Hula Hut

Aug 01, 2016

Island Cafe, Coronado

Aug 10, 2016

Johnnie Blackett's Copabana Club San Diego

Johnnie Blackett’s Copacabaña

Feb 06, 2017

La Plaza Restaurant, Bird-Rock, La Jolla Hermosa, 1947

La Plaza Restaurant

Nov 02, 2017

Lanai Room

Lanai Room, La Jolla

Aug 15, 2016

Las Cuatro Milpas, Bario Logan, San Diego, 1970s

Las Cuatro Milpas

Mar 27, 2022

Liquid Fuel Lunch Room

Apr 21, 2018

Luau Room, Hotel del Coronado, 1962

Luau Room

Aug 15, 2016

Lubach’s Restaurant

Jun 17, 2016

Mai-Kai Ft Lauderdale

Mai-Kai, San Diego

Jul 31, 2016

Menehune Max newspaper ad

Menehune Max

Dec 14, 2016

Fifth-Street,-New-Town-San-Diego-1887

Mexican Restaurant

Sep 16, 2017

Mr Tiki Mai Tai Lounge bar

Mister Tiki’s Mai Tai Lounge

Nov 25, 2019

Noah's Ark Cafe, Leucadia, San Diego, 1948

Noah’s Ark Cafe and Zoo

Feb 28, 2017

Nunus exterior

Nunu’s Tavern

Jul 30, 2024

Mason Street School, Old Town Tamale Factory, San Diego

Old Town Tamale Factory

Sep 07, 2017

Pagan Room La Jolla

Pagan Room

Aug 15, 2016

Red Sails Inn menu illustration, c1957

Red Sails Inn

Aug 29, 2016

Roberto's Taco Shop, San Ysidro, 1964

Roberto’s Taco Shops

Sep 19, 2017

SS Monte Carlo poster

S.S. Monte Carlo

Feb 29, 2016

2016 Salazar's interior

Salazar’s Fine Mexican Food

Jul 20, 2017

Sea Horse Inn Chula Vista ad

Sea Horse Inn

Nov 21, 2017

Sombrero Taco Shop

Sombrero Mexican Food

Nov 17, 2017

1955 South Seas Cafe sd023

South Seas Cafe

Jul 31, 2016

Tahiti Cafe, National City

Tahiti Cafe

May 11, 2017

The Tahiti / Ports of Call / L'Escale Restaurant

Tahiti Restaurant

Sep 23, 2016

Tahitian Room, Al Goodman design, 1960

Tahitian Room

Aug 22, 2016

The Hole

The Hole

Jul 23, 2024

The Hurricane, Hillcrest

The Hurricane

Aug 03, 2017

the java tiki bar san diego

The Java

Mar 12, 2017

Unusually high tide at the Marine Room

The Marine Room

Mar 18, 2016

1961 Mission Room, May Co featured image

The Mission Room, May Company

Nov 25, 2024

The Polynesian tiki restaurant, La Jolla, CA

The Polynesian

Mar 12, 2017

The Rendezvous

Aug 22, 2016

The Tropics San Diego

The Tropics

Mar 13, 2017

Fried Won Tons

Tiki Hut Polynesian Restaurants

Sep 17, 2017

Tiki Hut, Town and Country Hotel.

Tiki Hut, Town and Country Hotel

Jul 10, 2020

The Tropic Cafe hula girl, c1939

Tropic Cafe

Jul 31, 2016

1937 Dottie Richardson, queen of Ramona Turkey Day

Turkey Inn

Nov 23, 2022

Restaurante Victor's, Tijuana

Victor’s, Tijuana

Sep 26, 2017

Wendell Hom’s Teapot Inn

Oct 02, 2022

Whaling Bar cafe La Rue exterior

Whaling Bar

Aug 15, 2016

classicsandiego

The culinary history of San Diego’s classic restaurants and bars.

We have a limited number of unclaimed Deluxe Limit

We have a limited number of unclaimed Deluxe Limited Editions available from our Kickstarter. Signed, includes two reproduction passion fruit cocktail recipe leaflets. 100 bucks,each. Message @classicsandiego

Happy Thanksgiving from Classic San Diego! Photo,

Happy Thanksgiving from Classic San Diego! Photo, Ramona’s turkey festival queen, Dottie Richardson, 1938.

The Mission Room (1961) was a restaurant/tea room

The Mission Room (1961) was a restaurant/tea room with attached coffee shop located on the second floor of a mid-century Modernist-style wing on the south side of the May Company store in Mission Valley Center, designed by William Sperry Lewis, Jr. for LA-based AC Martin. Full story at ClassicSanDiego.com

#mcm #modernist #architecture #moddesign #vintagerestaurants #missionroom #cafe #tearoom #mayco #maycompany #missionvalley #missionvalleycenter #sandiego #classicsandiego

Help the Culinary Historians of San Diego celebrat

Help the Culinary Historians of San Diego celebrate eleven years of free public lectures! Tomorrow at 10:30am, on Saturday, November 16, the Culinary Historians of San Diego will hold their last public meeting.

Did you know that San Diego was the first place in California where vineyards were planted for winemaking?

Join us and learn all about the history of San Diego winemaking with historian Richard Carrico, in the Neil Morgan auditorium of the San Diego Public Library.

Illustration: Col. A.E. Maxcy’s vineyard in Rancho Guejito was the first commercial winery in San Diego County, c1850.

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