Point Loma Seafoods, next to Shelter Island, has long been a popular landmark for locals and visitors to America’s Finest City. March 19 marked the beginning of a new era for Point Loma Seafoods, with the opening of a newly remodeled building, which includes an attached lighthouse. A lighthouse art dedication ceremony is slated for April 5 at 10 a.m., hosted by the San Diego Unified Port District. Since 1963, Kelly Christianson, along with sons, Jack and John, has developed what was once a small fish store into a thriving market and restaurant business. For the last 10 months, Point Loma Seafoods has been operating out of a temporary facility, awaiting the completion of the restaurant’s remodeled site at 2805 Emerson St. The floor plan basically remains the same from its original incarnation, with the addition of a second-story dining area, complete with a beautiful bay view of downtown San Diego. The high beam ceiling and overall architecture gives the building a flavor of Monterrey’s famous Cannery Row. The main attraction is the attached, 30-foot lighthouse that has a working lantern to light up the boardwalk. Christianson’s wife, Beverly, was a co-designer for the lighthouse art project. The Port District requires that all improvements to property bordering the bay include some form of art appropriate to the coastal community. Point Loma Seafoods complied by commissioning Jon Koehler, a Point Loma artist, to design and build a lighthouse that would be included in the new construction. Koehler is well known, having designed several stainless-steel sculptures in and around San Diego. The lighthouse art project is modeled after the old Cabrillo, located at the Cabrillo National Monument at the end of Point Loma. Point Loma Seafoods has long been a part of the fishing community in San Diego. Over the years, the business has grown into one of the most visited seafood restaurants in town. The family business continues to serve the freshest fish, shrimp and crab meat, along with homemade sourdough bread, tarter sauce and clam chowder. The business also continues to process, fillet and custom-smoke fish for local sport fisherman. Kelly Christianson said that with the new building, Point Loma Seafoods’ mission remains the same as it has for almost 50 years — to serve and sell “The freshest thing in town.” For more information, call (619) 223-1109, or visit www.pointlomaseafoods.com.
