Ellen Goodwin (Courtesy photo)
Bars, Downtown, Metro Area
Meet Ellen Goodwin, San Diego’s Dive Bar Maven
By Frank Sabatini Jr.
For the past 13 years North Park resident Ellen Goodwin and her husband, Chris Collette, have been guiding those with a thirst for drinks and nostalgia to San Diego’s cherished dive bars.
Known simply as “Dive Bar of the Month,” the social club requires no membership fees or drink minimums for taking part in the convivial gatherings, which are held at 6:00p on the fourth Wednesday of every month. Goodwin and hubby draw no profits from their effort. They are driven simply by a love of old, dark watering holes made all the better if they offer trusty jukeboxes loaded with diverse music.
We tapped into Goodwin’s dive-bar savvy last month, soon after she had announced the destinations for April and May: The Lancers in University Heights, and CJ’s Club in Hillcrest, respectively.
Downtown Condo Guys: How did ‘Dive Bar of the Month” come about?
Goodwin: When I moved here after living in Washington, D.C. for three years, a neighbor and I shared a desire to go to dive bars. We would go to them on Wednesdays or Thursdays – sometimes to The Waterfront to get breakfast and to the Alibi for drinks. We eventually decided to start a dive-bar club, which was in March of 2010.
Downtown Condo Guys: Were you a fan of dive bars before moving here?
Goodwin: I started loving them in Washington, D.C., where there is this fantastic dive bar called Tune Inn. I was a frequent customer. It has that certain feel, and the people who went there were always fun. The bar was open until 4:00a. And the restrooms were marked by deer butts, which meant you had to look closely at them to figure out what the men’s and women’s restrooms were. It was also one of the first bars I had been to that had a big, long communal table where you always met people.
I even did a Ted Talk at Symphony Hall in 2016 about how dive bars can save your life. The talk included a little bit about our club.
Downtown Condo Guys: What was the first dive bar you chose to visit as a group after forming the club?
Goodwin: NuNu’s. We went back to the scene of the crime this March to celebrate our 13th anniversary. They still have the padded bar and the orange tuck-and-roll booths, and carpet on the wall. In fact, NuNu’s and I are the same age—it opened in 1962.
Downtown Condo Guys: How do people find you and get info on the dive-bar outings every month?
Goodwin: We use a Facebook page and our Meetup to announce the bars each month. We have 6,000 members on MeetUp.
Downtown Condo Guys: How many members on average show up each month?
Goodwin: Around 60 to 70 people. We just go out as normal customers and members can hang out as long as they want. My husband and I go a couple weeks ahead of time and let the managers and bartenders know that we’ll be coming. We give them an estimate of numbers, and I will call the Monday before with more accurate numbers. We encourage people to sign up on Meetup. We also have a sign that we put out at the establishments, and I’ll greet people when they come in, especially if they’re newcomers.
Downtown Condo Guys: What is the demographic of your membership?
Goodwin: It runs the gamut from people in their mid-20s to 70s. There is no one typical person.
Downtown Condo Guys: What are the standards an establishment must have to qualify as a ‘dive bar?’
Goodwin: Pictures on the wall of ‘the regulars,’ or a memorial to them; cash only is always a good sign; and a jukebox filled with their own music, which is really hard to find but is always a good mark. Also a good dive bar doesn’t serve food, except for maybe Slim Jims and random bags of chips.
Downtown Condo Guys: How many dive bars exist within the City of San Diego?
Goodwin: Probably around 30. There are some that we cycle through every two to three years because we mostly stay urban. As soon as you get outside the city limits, there are a lot more. But the further out we go, the less attendance we get.
Downtown Condo Guys: What is San Diego’s oldest dive bar?
Goodwin: It’s a tie between The Waterfront and Tivoli. Both of them date back to pre-Prohibition.
Downtown Condo Guys: How about the most obscure dive bars in San Diego?
Goodwin: The Tower Bar in City Heights. Even though it’s the most brightly colored bar from the outside, I think a lot of people don’t try it out because it looks kind of forbidding. Another one is Cherry Bomb in Bankers Hill because it’s tucked away in a mini strip mall next to a laundromat. It’s very Goth inside and they pour strong drinks. The music is incredibly loud but it’s a great bar.
Downtown Condo Guys: Do you visit dive bars when traveling in other cities?
Goodwin: Absolutely. Before we go anywhere, we check them out online. They are a big part of our travels throughout the U.S. and in countries like Belgium and England. We always joke about how people go to Europe for the cathedrals, and that we go for the dive bars.
Downtown Condo Guys: Outside of the dive-bar club, what is your occupation?
Goodwin: I am a productivity consultant, speaker, and author of a book that deals with overcoming procrastination, all of which is explained on my website.
Downtown Condo Guys: Ever consider writing a book about dive-bar culture?
Goodwin: I definitely have. My Ted Talk on dive bars was kind of the framework that I toyed around with for potentially writing a book. It would be fun.
