(Roving correspondent/ photographer Kristen Tobiason revisits and documents the scenes of our youth. Today, Topsy’s becomes a bear sanctuary! Photos by Kristen Tobiason; text by Kristen Tobiason and Matthew Rothenberg.)
In the pantheon of 24-hour, Formica-countered restaurants of early-’80s San Diego, Topsy’s was the Rolling Stones to El Cajon Blvd. Denny’s’ Beatles: less-polished and slightly tougher than its competitor to the east.
But like “Gay Denny’s,” Topsy’s’ after-clubbing hours and proximity to San Diego’s Hillcrest neighborhood also put a queer spin on the mix of patrons.
Reborn as Brian’s American Eatery, the restaurant at 1451 Washington Ave. expands on Topsy’s’ tradition of diner fare and a mix of gay and straight clientele, with special affinities for the “bear” subculture of the former.
Brian has maintained the original layout, booths and fixtures but has reupholstered and added touches of his own (rainbow Budweiser sign, bear ornaments, Herman Miller clock, et al.). Other recent additions are the outdoor patio and liquor license, which has created a different atmosphere from Topsy’s’.
Kristen sighted bears galore at Brian’s while consuming a hearty breakfast of eggs, homefries and buttermilk biscuits. The menu has inflated with the times along with the prices (breakfast for two: $30!), and the famous “wall of pies” is now a case of muffins.
More views of San Diego then and now:
- 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
Well at least they put booths back in. While it was still Topys it was sold to new owners who tore out all the booths in the middle of the restaurant (they left the booths along the windows) and put in wooden tables.
I wonder how legendary Topsy’s waitress Rose E. Rose would look dressed like a lumberjack? A little skinny, but I bet she had the biceps for it.
And I hope Brian has revisited Topsy’s’ famed knockwurst Reuben (which had a name and appearance pre-adapted for a bear restaurant).
The English teacher in me cringes every time I pass this place. The sign, which no doubt cost quite a bit to refurbish, announces to the world the name of the restaurant: Brians’.
Is there more than one Brian, or is this an expensive mistake?
Topsy’s had the best Monte Cristo.
Matt Rott: You should have taken your in-laws to Moby Dicks on Castro.
In seattle there is a place called Dick’s Burger. There t-shirt said “I love Dick’s”.
Brians rhymes with Dyins’. not only bears but you also find clones, daddies, jocks and otters there as well, I was talking to this guy in there one night who said his name was puddles and he told me how bummed out he was that he would have to spend the weekend at his masters buddys house being used as a human toilet.
“California State Law requires that employees WASH THEIR HANDS after using the human toilet — and that human toilets WASH THEIR FACES.”
ha ha ha ha ha man that’s funny
Ray:there are indeed two Brians.One of the Brians’ boyfriend was a client of mine,the other Brian,who I have not met,is his business partner.
Bobby: Now that’s cool! Superficially incorrect punctuation that actually has a rational explanation makes me happy!
Dylan: When I lived in SF, I rocked the Hot ‘n’ Hunky Burgers in the Castro. One specialty was the “Bleu Job,” which according to the menu was covered in “melted bleu cheese … ???????” (This is a fun thread about funky-and-defunct SF restaurants: “Hot n’ Hunky Burger on 18th. Best burger in the city, but more importantly, it was part of a Murderer’s Row of suggestive business names in that area, along with Sit n’ Spin, Moby Dick, and The Sausage Factory.”)
Back to Brian’s American Eatery: I want to try the baby’s-head-sized mac-and-cheese casserole thing I linked to on someone’s Flickr account … I would make an excellent bear, except for the whole straight thing. :-/
BAAAhahahaha!!! Dicks Last Resort! And new in Hillcrest Dicks Liquour (get it?).
How about the Sausage King still reigning supreme in Mission Hills? Someone please pull my brian…uh..I’m mean my brain out from the gutter.
Matthew: I was wondering how you had so much insight into Bear Culture 🙂
Bobby--I did see another Brians’ Restaurant--I just can’t remember where I saw it. It’s nice to know that the punctuation makes sense. Sausage King! I’d lived in the area nearly thirty years before I worked up the nerve to go in. I imagined a mysterious Chocolate Factory setting, run by nefarious Slugworth types, but alas, my wife and I only encountered a friendly, elderly German woman. I assume she was Her Royal Highness. Since the “meat” looked as though it was nearly thirty years old, we decided to make small talk about the old country and pass on purchasing any sausage.
Sausage King does reign supreme. Very old school German couple run the place and they make ’em all there. My childhood dentist was around the corner from there, and the place looked old back in the 70s. I’ll bet they’re unaware of the double entendre of their sign:
“Sausage King. Park in Rear.”
I was able to surmise what was daddies, jocks and clones are, but I’ll admit I had to look up “otter” on Urban Dictionary.com. Apparently an “otter” is merely a small “bear”--taxonomically incorrect, but I get the idea.
Google to the rescue: The second Brians’ American Eatery is in Kearny Mesa, on Balboa Avenue.
“The Court of the Sausage King” was a prog-rock CLASSIC.
Back in Milwaukee, Usinger’s Sausage Factory was a meaty pillar of the community … My mother liked to go there and shop for factory seconds — misshapen wienies that didn’t pass muster. This explains my raging Oedipal complex and fear of kielbasa.
I think Sam worked at Sausage King for a while. Maybe he’ll see this and have something to say abou the place.
One more bear-watching tip: While the Country Bear Jamboree no longer graces Disneyland, this venerable animatronic attraction lives on at Disney World. And (as you might expect from a venue where anthropomorphic ursine avatars meet musical comedy) the audience is usually studded with bears of the human variety.
Around 1986 to 1988 I lived across from Topsy’s. There’s a courtyard apartment complex across Washington at the same cross street. Very convenient location, and only $450 for a one-bedroom cottage!
Us 90’s kids were big Topsy’s fans as well -- Drip Tank and aMiniature used it as the record label name for our split single.
Hi Julie,
Welcome to to midlife; crisis optional. If you’ll notice, Tom Griswold hangs out here sometimes. (I wish he’d post more!)
Ray
I’m bummed I missed Drip Tank … Their guerilla tour of 7-11s (recounted to me admiringly by Eddie Vedder) sounds like a performance action after my own heart.
Welcome, Julie!
Who needs a midlife crisis when you’ve had as much fun as we all had?
As I mentioned to Matthew in email, I wasn’t actually in Drip Tank for the 7-11 tour (that was my introduction to them, and I knew right away that I wanted to be in that band). Joel Nowak was one of San Diego’s underappreciated geniuses.
I was, however, around for the Drip Tank Drum Corps (6 drummers at once), the time we played an overture of our set list to start off a show, the time Joel wrapped his head in duct tape while playing, the Christmas in July show (complete with Santa and Xmas/Hanukkah songs), the recording session of tv theme songs (I wonder where that tape is?), sneaking into CMJ under another band’s name, and endless impromptu cover songs.
So many stories, but I guess that’s for the 90’s blog. 🙂
Hi,Julie!you could always tell the Opal story if you want to stick strictly to the 80’s material.Those mocassin boots are etched permanently into my gray matter.Hey,Dean,was that the Sapphire apartments?I lived there at pretty much the same time,86 to early 88.I used to hang with Rose Rose til 5 in the morning sometimes after closing Java downtown.Dave Klowden’s house was the alternate after hours spot.
Hey there Bobby, yeah those boots were something -- I’m not sure what look he was going for. But the guy grew up in New Guinea, so he kind of had an odd sense of style. Off-topic (still to Bobby), I actually ran into one of Marie Dizon’s older brothers yesterday up here in Seattle. And my folks STILL live in Tierrasanta.
MAtt Rott: Yes Hot & Hunky Burgers was great… But not as good as the Monte Cristo at Topsy.
Matt Rott: O’yeah up the the street from the pink on pink Hot & Hunky was a Bar called “the Men’s Room”.
Point of order: Don’t sweat the ’80s! (Wasn’t that a Richard Simmons exercise tape??)
We’re reaching back at least into the ’70s to see where the scene came from, and I’m really interested to see where it went after many of us left town ca. 1985-’87.
Ray’s Town Criers piece is set at the end of the ’80s, and Barney Firks and others have also started describing the creative churn that happened down the road a piece, chronologically speaking. (Oh, and don’t forget: I’ve been shameless about pimping stuff some of us were doing in SF well into the ’90s. I’m hoping others will also grace us with more-recent work.)
The site’s focus doesn’t mean we can’t consider cool stuff that happened before, after or around our original point of departure.
All insights appreciated, ya whippersnappers! 🙂
PS to Bobby and Julie: Who or what was Opal?
PPS to Dylan: I remember when there were two Hot ‘n’ Hunkys on either end of the Castro. The story I heard was that when the guys who started both broke up, they each got a restaurant — but to avoid brand confusion one renamed his restaurant Hot ‘n’ Chunky, which sounds uncomfortably pukey.
Bobby: I just looked with Google Street View and they were called Cleveland Manor. Spanish style courtyard cottages. Go to 4126 Cleveland Ave in Google Maps.
Here’s the Google Maps walkaround of the Cleveland Manor cottages Mr. Curtis referenced:
View Larger Map
And while we’re at it, here’s Brian’s American Eatery in situ:
View Larger Map
Matthew, Thanks, but that is the wrong apartment building. I probably gave the wrong address because I “walked” in Google from Topsy’s (Brians’) there and that’s the address that came up. But do a 180 and there it is!
Ahh, thanks for the correction, Dean. 🙂
Does anyone know what hours Brian’s keeps? Saturated fats lose their savor if unavailable after 2am.
Matt Rott: Please point me in the direction of anything on this site posted by Barney Firks.
Barney and I met when I was just an 11-year-old kid; back then people called me Porky. Barney’s ex-girlfriend and my O.B. alley neighbor Erica Bernhart gave me the name after our local barber “Crazy John” shaved my head by accident and I had a pretty good stutter.
Barney was always a real cool dude.
I came to this site just to observe and read/learn/hear about bands I always wanted to know more about like The Wallflowers and also to read about band I love and have been influenced by such as The Morlocks and The Tell- Tale Hearts. I never really intended to add my two cents but…..
I could do some threads of my own about my bands and experiences, I guess because I am from San Diego and also because of the influence of our local bands, but I also am not into shameless self promotiom so….. Hmmmm?
Dylan: Mr. Firks discoursed manfully on rock of the late ’80s in our “Later days at the Che” thread. He also sent me a wonderful CD of his work that I’ve yet to acknowledge. Thank you, Barney!
PS: Self-promotion, schmelf-promotion — we were all going to be rock stars, weren’t we? 🙂
Seriously, this site needs a variety of voices. And you 30-something puppies have been a real ego boost to some of us old duffers who always hoped we’d left a trace or two behind.
Dylan: I remember when you were called “Porky,” although I thought it was unfair and preferred to call you by your first and middle names. I remember Crazy John’s weird-ass Barber Shop, too. You had to pound on the wall to get him to descend from his house into the converted garage that was the shop. As I heard the story back in the day from my brother (who was friends with your brother), you’d asked for a “flat-top,” but John (who was, after all, crazy) heard “Kojak” and conducted himself in the tonsorially appropriate fashion. Is that how it was?
Anyhow, it’s a surprise to find you here after all these years. I hope you’re well and look forward to hearing about your band adventures.
Simon: The “flat-top”/”Kojak” anecdote just propelled me out of my chair, shrieking with glee! I want to hear more Crazy John the barber stories! (I think it’s marvelous that anyone would willingly put his head in the hands of someone called “Crazy John.”)
I am now going to share one weird barber story from the days when I was living in SF’s Mission District, ca. 1990: My regular barber, who I visited many times, was a couple of blocks up from our apartment (maybe 23rd Street and Valencia?), and he was old — well into his 80s. One day, I’m sitting in the chair, his gut pressed into my back as he shaves my neck with a straight razor, and I start thinking, “This is a very old man wielding this very sharp instrument around my ears, jugular vein and all the other little ropy bits holding my head on. What if he, like, strokes out or something? Where does the blade go? Zzzzzt!” It really took an effort to sit still long enough for him to finish up.
Two mornings later, I’m reading the obits in the SF Chronicle, and I find one for my barber. He finished work that evening, went home and deceased. Considering it had been a slow afternoon, I may have been the last customer of his 60-year career.
That darned second sight of yours. Great story Matt.
Dylan: Use the PM function in the forum here, and we’ll chat. I’m slightly leery of posting my email on an open website (paranoid, I guess), but I’ll gladly give it to you. Your comment about The Undertones is one of the nicest compliments I’ve had in ages…
I love that that last post is titled :Simon Says.
Wow. Dylan, is your brother Sam? Did I sell my old Lambretta engine to him? Trying to fire the brain cells from 25 years ago…
Barney: Yeah Sam Rogers! I am not sure if you sold him that engine to him, but that rings a bell.
Sam and I really dug that red and black Lambretta you had.
We lived right up the way from Erica and we would walk down the alley just so we could check it out.
The world is indeed, a very small place. There is a picture of Erika and I on that scoot in my photos at myspace. Funny, I’ve lived in OB for a while now, and my youngest son is named Sam. One can certainly miss quite a bit of this blog if you do not check it for a few days. Glad you enjoyed the CD Matt. I would like to extend the offer of a free CD to anyone who would like a chronicle of my musical adventures in and around various San Diego music scenes, and beyond. As well as tales from the dark side, and pictures from the four corners of the globe… well at least two continents. Just send me a request with your info.
Barney: I was hang’n with Sam today, and yes he did buy that engine from you.
He had bought a siezed up Lambretta from Shawn Jolly.
Sam says hello.
I would love a cd and would like to maybe exchange it for one of mine.
Hello Dylan & Barney!
Barney and I ran into each other a few years back when both of our kids were at OB Elementary.
I first met Dylan shortly after the “Crazy John-Kojak/Flattop” incident. I believe it was later that same week that I ripped him and his brother off on a beer deal. Somehow my act of petty larceny started a lifelong friendship with the Rogers brothers.
Wow. Shawn Jolly. I wonder what ever happened to him.
Topsys was great. I have not thought about Rose Rose in many years. I am with you on the Monte Cristo sandwich Dylan. I remember I once ordered it without the powdered sugar and this weird cook came from the kitchen to let me know that he would make it for me without the sugar but in no way was it a true Monte Cristo. Then he stormed back to the kitchen and Rose Rose told me that next time to just order it the right way. Bizarre.
Hey Julie D: What ever happened to Joel Nowak? He and I worked at KSDT for several years, smoked a lot of pot, went around saying “hup” for some unknown reason, and created general mayhem. The song “Monkey Town” was, or so Joel told me at the time, had something to do with me.
I remember Joel as the publisher of a fanzine in the summer of 1982 before he played in bands. did it start with a Z?
His fanzine was called “Slax” if I recall. We went to the same high school. I remember Joel as a funny, cool kid. Wasn’t he a founding member of Drip Tank?
That is it. Slax. I have a copy somewhere in either storage, next to my photos of klowden, Brandes and I playing whiffle ball in the summer of 1985 in Balboa Park. I swear these will be unearthed soon.
Drip Tank played quite a bit and Joel had a band before that ” The slurps”? Am I right on this too?
A little restaurant name trivia.
There was once a place selling hot dogs on the highway in Solana Beach called “The Wicked Weenie’ -- I still have one of their T-shirts.
I don’t know if it’s around anymore but in St. George Utah, of all places, there was a coffee shop called “Famous Dicks” -- and no, they didn’t have phallic pictures all over the walls. I have photos of the place somewhere.
Lost this thread for a while…. I lost touch with Joel when I moved to Seattle about 12 years ago. I can confirm that his previous band (also with Abbie, who played bass in Drip Tank) was The Slurps. “Monkey Town” and “Bird Get Out of the Way” were a couple of their songs that I really liked. Then there was Tom’s Drip Tank which was a 4-piece, then they lost the guitarist and drummer, hooked up with Paul Brewin on drums and renamed themselves Drip Tank. I’ve been posting some old singles on a facebook page -- check it out if you’re on fb. I should totally put some Slurps on there too.
Hi Julie,
Drip Tank was my favorite band of the 90’s… not just my favorite San Diego band! Some of the Drip Tank shows of that era were pure sonic brilliance, unsurpassed in providing much pop/core fun. If I were asked who are my favorite San Diego bands? I’d tell ‘um, “The Zeros”, “The Injections”, “Rockin’ Dogs”, “5-0-5-1”, “Drip Tank”, and “The Nephews”. Some years back I was with some friends on a camping trip in Joshua Tree. My car at that time had a cassette player and I was blastin’ the “Hello from San Diego!” five songs from drip tank recordings. Shelly V. and some other folks gathered around saying stuff life, “wow man! I haven’t heard those songs in quite some time… it’s great to listen to ‘um again!”. That cassette includes two of my favorite Drip Tank songs, “Killing in the USA”, and “Clairemont”. In my opinion, short of a live performance… like say at the Texas Tea House in OB, it was that five song cassette that best captured the essence of the Drip Tank sound. Some great memories I have of Drip tank shows are: (The cartoon theme songs / advertisement jingles) show at the old Casbah… were Drip tank did the Apple Jacks tune. There was also the crazy meltdown show at Bodies where Joel introduced the band then quickly stuck a paper bag over his head and… well I’ll just leave it there.
Bye, John S.
I’ve been trying to figure out if The Sluprs did the song “Monkey Town” and get a copy ever since I heard it on the skate video Inside Out! 20 years ago!
Anyone know how I can get this song as well as check out some other material by The Sluprs? *(Guess I’ll try finding and contacting Drip Tank, the search contineus…)
You can reach me via mindlessfaith.com, vjexeris.com, or myspace.com/exeris
I think in the late 80s early 90s I was a virtual San Diego skater stuck in PA, heh.
Btw, am looking for other bands from Inside Out skateboarding video.
man my mom worked at topsys…