{"id":232423,"date":"2021-07-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-09T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/comics-with-a-side-of-subs-and-pizza\/"},"modified":"2021-07-09T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-09T07:00:00","slug":"comics-with-a-side-of-subs-and-pizza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/comics-with-a-side-of-subs-and-pizza\/","title":{"rendered":"C\u00f3mics con guarnici\u00f3n de s\u00e1ndwiches y pizza"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por LAINIE ALFARO<\/p>\n

At first glance, one wouldn\u2019t guess father\/son duo Steve and Chase Lirley dreamed up and now co-own an 8,000-square-foot comic store slash restaurant in their neighborhood of Allied Gardens. However, it is not rocket science that TC\u2019s Rockets is their passion and in their family blood.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you met either of us outside of the store, you would never know that we are into anything like this,\u201d but their backstory demonstrates this store has been in the making for quite some time,\u201d Chase said. \u201cMy whole life I was almost raised to work at a comic book store. My whole garage was always packed with toys and comics. It was a known thing my dad was going to open it [TC\u2019s Rockets].\u201d<\/p>\n

Named after his daughter and son, Tia and Chase\u2019s Rockets offers a blast to the past sprinkled with nostalgia and retro toys and comics.<\/p>\n

In 2015, they opened up their first store in La Mesa off of Parkway Drive \u2014 the culmination of years of garage sale adventures and comic showcases.<\/p>\n

However, with an influx of more merchandise and collectors\u2019 finds too good to pass up, they needed more space. This prompted the search for a new building and, as luck had it, the search ended in their own neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to use the word fate, but it really feels like it,\u201d Chase said. \u201cThis [Allied Gardens] was my neighborhood. We both grew up here. When we were looking for units because we needed to expand and we saw this one over here. It was kind of like everything was no longer a debate. It worked out great for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since 2018, they have served their neighborhood and beyond with game nights, robust comic book collections, vintage toys, and more recently, sandwiches and pizza.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we moved to this unit, we had more space than we knew what to do with,\u201d Chase said. \u201cWe run Magic [a popular card game] gathering events. We usually average about 100 people. We thought it\u2019d be cool to do a little deli.\u201d<\/p>\n

As fate had it, the Little Ceasar\u2019s next door closed down in 2020 and they gained a kitchen with the bonus of pizza ovens. However, the timing for opening a restaurant proved to be quite the undertaking given the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad and I have no idea how to make pizza,\u201d Chase said. \u201cLuckily, we had friends in the community who were like \u2018I have a friend who is an absolute passionate pizza person.\u2019 The restaurant opened in December. It was a crazy idea to even open a restaurant during this time. My dad said perfectly: \u2018We\u2019re opening in the worst time possible so it can\u2019t get worse.\u2019 If we can survive through that, we can survive anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Comics<\/a><\/p>\n

For other comic\/toy conventions such as Comic-Con ,as well as other local stores, survival relied on online sales or offering curbside pickup, but Chase believes the digital world can\u2019t compete with the in-person experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cMagic had released a new game just before COVID-19,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople realized that games like that lend themselves to being in social settings and seeing someone face to face. There\u2019s a lot of new faces I had never seen before who had been playing at home. Having this happen gave people the sense of \u2018this is something I missed this is something I want moving forward.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the missed events at their business last year was Rocket Con. With Comic-Con evolving into more of a pop culture convention, Steve and Chase came up with Rocket Con for those wanting to buy and sell the retro toys, games, and comics.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore intriguing things to find, less on the big business stuff,\u201d Chase said.<\/p>\n

To make up for lost times, Chase and Steve scheduled their third annual Rocket Con for 2022.<\/p>\n

Despite the overall challenges of 2020, Chase said the local community was still valued and felt. For that reason, an in-person gathering in 2022 will have all the more meaning.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single day that we got here we assumed that we would have $0 at the end every day,\u201d he said. \u201cThe amount of people that called and bought board games, puzzles, toys, and paint was absolutely insane. I am so happy that our community was able to support us through that entire time because I really did not expect it. It\u2019s just the little things.\u201d<\/p>\n

As far as the future for TC\u2019s Rockets, Comic-Con, and the gaming community in San Diego, Chase is hopeful.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have their collections brewing and they enjoy what they got,\u201d said Chase. \u201cI do feel optimistic. It can\u2019t get any worse than it was. There\u2019s still something to look forward to.<\/p>\n

Every day I get to do something comic or toy-related with my dad.\u201d<\/p>\n

TC Rockets is located at 5155 Waring Road. Visit www.tcrockets.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Lainie Alfaro is a journalism student at Point Loma Nazarene University and a former intern for teh Mission Times, College Times and La Mesa Couriers.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By LAINIE ALFARO At first glance, one wouldn\u2019t guess father\/son duo Steve and Chase Lirley dreamed up and now co-own an 8,000-square-foot comic store slash restaurant in their neighborhood of Allied Gardens. However, it is not rocket science that TC\u2019s Rockets is their passion and in their family blood. \u201cIf you met either of us […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":988,"featured_media":232424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11558","_seopress_titles_title":"Comics with a side of subs and pizza","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11558,11551,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-232423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-mission-times-courier","category-news","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/988"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}