Times come and go, but The Pennant in South Mission Beach, the quintessential beach bar the past 50 years, just keeps ongoing.
\nDick Kovalcheck, a former tuna fisherman who bought The Pennant when he was in his 30s, has owned the institution at 2893 Mission Blvd. for 40 years.
\n“We\u2019ve got a back room that I\u2019ve leased out to a kitchen crew named South Mission Beach Grill making hamburgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, etc.,” Kovalcheck told Beach & Bay Press holding court on a recent weekday in his bi-level bar with a rooftop deck featuring cocktails and a welcoming, laid-back ambiance.\u00a0
\nDiscussing how he came to be a restaurateur, Kovalchek said, “I was a tuna fisherman for about 10 years and got up to be a master navigator. I just got tired of floatin\u2019 on the ocean. I caught him (then-owner Jack Elliott) at the right moment. I had saved money from the last few fishing boats I\u2019d been on and my money was good.”
\nThe Pennant did not have a second story, so Kovalcheck added a rooftop deck in 1980 before reopening after remodeling. Named, according to one patron, as a celebration of sports, The Pennant has remained relatively unchanged since then.
\n“We\u2019re licensed as a bar,” noted Kovalcheck. “Underage kids aren\u2019t supposed to be in here. We cannot have live, amplified music. We don\u2019t do that much anymore.”
\nThe “alchemy” behind The Pennant, that keeps patrons returning, is nothing mysterious.
\n“It\u2019s where people come to relax after work, or whatever they\u2019re doing, unwind a little bit, watch sports on TV, etc.,” said Kovalcheck of his establishment noting the demographics of the neighborhood have changed over the past four decades.
\n“Back in the \u201980s and \u201990s it was more of a younger group,” noted Kovalcheck. “As rents start going up and up there was more value (Mission Beach) to our properties, and there have been more short-term rentals. In 1980 you could buy a cottage for $50,000. Now it\u2019s $500,000 to $1 million. Most of the young people couldn\u2019t afford to stay down here.”
\nWhy are people still coming to The Pennant?
\n“The ocean is right over there (pointing across the street),” answered Kovalcheck while pointing. That\u2019s the California dream. People dress down when they come here. People are here basically to talk to their pals, or make new pals. Some people like watching sports on TV. Some people like a crowd.”
\nAdded the bar owner, “We\u2019re open year-round, though it gets busier during daylight savings time.”
\nThe Pennant was anticipating getting busier for spring break \u2014 but that\u2019s on hold after the City mandated all bars to close during the coronavirus outbreak.
\n“We get a lot of visitors to this resort area,” concluded Kovalcheck. The Pennant
\nWhere: 2893 Mission Blvd.
\nInfo: 858-488-1671<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Times come and go, but The Pennant in South Mission Beach, the quintessential beach bar the past 50 years, just keeps ongoing. Dick Kovalcheck, a former tuna fisherman who bought The Pennant when he was in his 30s, has owned the institution at 2893 Mission Blvd. for 40 years. “We\u2019ve got a back room that […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":273551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11559","_seopress_titles_title":"The Pennant is an institution in South Mission Beach","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11559,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-273550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beach-bay-press","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273550","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=273550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}