This year Hodad\u2019s fans are getting a double treat: a celebration of the iconic restaurant\u2019s 50th anniversary, and a birthday remembrance for late family patriarch Mike Harden.
\nBoth will occur on “Bossman Day,” Monday, Sept. 30 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. at OB Pier parking lot. Festivities will include live bands, food, a skateboard ramp, brews, booths and a kids zone.
\nMike “Bossman” Hardin died Feb. 5, 2015.\u00a0He was the unofficial mayor and “burgermeister” of Ocean Beach.\u00a0
\nMike\u2019s parents opened the iconic Hodad\u2019s burger restaurant in OB in 1960. He took over in the 1980s, expanding to a second venue downtown and a third in Petco Park.\u00a0
\nSince Bossman\u2019s death, Hodad\u2019s president\/CEO Jeremy Diem said the company has observed a customer appreciation day at the end of every busy summer.
\n“We were always closed Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter, then we decided to have Bossman Day for employees, where we would shut down for a day after summer and treat all the employees to something special,” he said.
\nThis year\u2019s celebration will be one of a kind.
\n“Our 50th anniversary was actually July 5,” said Diem noting there was no way the City was going to allow OB Pier parking lot to be closed on a holiday weekend. So the question then became, what would be the best date to observe both their 50th anniversary and Bossman’s life.
\n“Somebody suggested we make it Feb. 5,” said Diem. “But we preferred to do it the day he came into the world (Sept. 30).”
\nSince this year was their 50th anniversary, Diem said the company decided to open up Bossman Day to everyone, not just employees.\u00a0
\nDiem promised Bossman Day won\u2019t disappoint.
\n“The mayor is going to come and give a proclamation for Bossman Day in the City,” he said. “We\u2019re going to have 10 different bands playing. We\u2019ll have a beer gardens with Hodad\u2019s own brews, a bouncy house and skate ramps and some vendor booths.”
\nDiem said there will be a $10 entry fee for Bossman Day. Once inside, Hodad\u2019s brews and sliders will be available for $5.
\nHodad\u2019s name is derived from the 1950s beach term for surfer wannabes who were into cars, music and counterculture style. Begun in 1969 by Hardin\u2019s parents, Byron and Virginia, they purchased both the business and its name. The restaurant was initially on the beach at the end of Santa Monica Avenue.\u00a0
\nIn 1991, after several moves, Hodad\u2019s opened on Newport Avenue where it is today.
\nThe eatery\u2019s ambiance is eclectic. License plates from all over the planet dot the walls. There are also historic pictures; lots of beach memorabilia and picnic tables with surfboard-shaped seats. A giant menu board over the customer counter proclaims “99 Gazillion sold.”
\nMike\u2019s son, and Hodad\u2019s third-generation restauranteur, Shane Hardin, now runs the family owned and operated restaurant-microbrewery business.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This year Hodad\u2019s fans are getting a double treat: a celebration of the iconic restaurant\u2019s 50th anniversary, and a birthday remembrance for late family patriarch Mike Harden. Both will occur on “Bossman Day,” Monday, Sept. 30 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. at OB Pier parking lot. Festivities will include live bands, food, a skateboard […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":267452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"Hodad\u2019s 50th anniversary will celebrate \u2018Bossman Day\u2019","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11561],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-267451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-peninsula-beacon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267451","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\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}