(Roving correspondent/photographer Kristen Tobiason revisits the scenes of our past glories. Today, the Zebra Club/Saigon Palace becomes a meat market.)
I’d never gone to the Zebra Club, later Saigon Palace, at 560 Fifth Avenue in San Diego. I look forward to hearing others’ tales of it.
One time, after a Wallflowers gig (two doors down at Greenwich Village West), we stopped by so [Wallflowers vocalist] Dave Rinck could pop in and visit so-and-so, who I don’t recall. But I do remember hearing a rumor that Tom Waits played there.
[Editor’s note: While no one else has mentioned Tom Waits, many of our colleagues remember the club’s plumbing. “The Saigon Palace was a very small, dive bar in downtown San Diego with sewage problems and sleazy cocktail waitresses,” writes Dave Ellison. And Ray Brandes recalls, “The Town Criers had their debut at the Saigon Palace in 1987, summer. What I remember most is that there was a leaky sewer pipe that ran across the length of the bar, and it smelled awful.”]
My impression now of the current tenant, Nicky Rottens, is a swank Gaslamp watering hole, a burger joint where its patrons, mostly male (hence the “tie” logo) seem serious about getting their beer on — on a late afternoon, Thanksgiving Eve, even.
A “Frankie” theme, it was “Brat Pack”-packaged for male bonding, sporting events positioned in several corners.
Or perhaps it served as a good place to make a business deal, with Bridgeport Ale and ground beef dripping with Swiss and sautéed onions.
Serious business. I was unnoticed as I wandered through, including by the waitress.
— Kristen Tobiason
More views of San Diego then and now:
- Then and Now: the Chicken Pie Shop
- Then and Now: Off the Record
- Then and Now: Rock Palace
- Then and Now: The Ken Cinema
- Then and Now: Adams Avenue Theater
- Then and Now: Topsy’s
- Then and Now: Greenwich Village West
- Then and Now: Funland
- Then and Now: Studio 517
- Then and Now: La Posta
- Then and Now: Presidio Park
- Then and Now: El Cajon Blvd. Denny’s