(2022-✔) Mothership, San Diego’s sci-fi tropical bar serves up exotic drinks, spun off from Kory Stetina’s Permanent Vacation cocktail popups at KINDRED.
After the Ancient Astronaut Shuttle Crew crashes on an uninhabited planet, they fashion a basecamp from the remains of their craft. They find “ample plant life and curious, intoxicating spirits” to sustain themselves.
The space adventure bar is a surprise, hidden in a Spanish Mission Revival building within the vintage business district of South Park. Enter through a cave into the cool, colorful crashsite, while your senses are hypnotized by Justin Pinkerton’s custom post-exotica soundtrack. Its overgrown interior was created by Ignacio “Notch” Gonzalez (Smuggler’s Cove, False Idol, Whitechapel) in an Orchid Award-winning design. The “astro-tropical” cocktails were created by David Kinsey and Juan Castañeda (Kindred), with plant-based small plates called “earth food” served alongside.
Some drinks even feature a cordial made from TANG! It is a must-visit. As are the red HAL9000 bathrooms.
South Park
2310 30th Street
San Diego, CA 92104
Above: Some of Mothership’s plant-based cuisine for weary space travelers. Photo, James Tran. Below left: Composer Justin Pinkerton’s restaurant soundtrack, “Music from an Uncharted Planet, Vol 1,” a limited edition vinyl release, 2022. Below right: Kindred x Mothership collab Cosmic Skull mug (Stardust Purple edition) by Thor / Tiki Farm, 2025.
This establishment is featured in the second edition of Ninety Years of Classic San Diego Tiki, expanded with new information, photos, and memorabilia from San Diego’s Tiki restaurants and bars — ones missed from the past and others opened since 2018 — this full-color, 288-page hardcover edition is dropping September 1, 2026. Reserve your copy today.