People dine where scenes from Top Gun were filmed.
Walking through downtown San Diego recently, I happened to pass Kansas City Barbeque, so I got some pics.
Do you remember the hit movie Top Gun? The 80’s movie about Navy fighter pilots that turned Tom Cruise into a mega-superstar? You might recall the great sleazy bar scene, where Maverick and Goose sit at a piano and sing “Great Balls of Fire”. That was shot at this location! You might also remember the line spoken by Meg Ryan, “Goose, you big stud! Take me to bed now or lose me forever!” That was filmed in the dining area. The bar also appears at the end of the movie as “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” is heard playing on the jukebox.
Today you can eat some tasty barbeque while checking out a huge collection of memorabilia, a virtual shrine to Top Gun.
F-14 Tomcat depicted on outside wall at Kansas City Barbeque.The very popular Kansas City Barbeque in downtown San Diego.
The above photo was taken around Christmas. I see Santa Pig!
Kansas City Barbeque was a location used in the movie Top Gun.Pigs fly on the rear wall of Kansas City Barbeque!
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Here are some photographs of the historic Keating Building, which over a century ago was the most prominent high-rise building in downtown San Diego!
The five-story Romanesque Revival style office building, located in the Gaslamp, was built in 1890. Back in those days, its wire cage elevator and steam heating were amazing new modern conveniences. The elevator was the very first in San Diego, and remains the longest running elevator downtown!
This visually pleasing landmark was designed by the Reid Brothers, the architects responsible for the incredible Hotel Del Coronado.
For several decades the Keating Building has been home to Croce’s Restaurant and Jazz Bar, established by singer Jim Croce’s surviving wife, Ingrid. At year’s end, Croce’s will be moving to a new, more intimate location on Banker’s Hill.
Keating Building seen from across Fifth Avenue, after Croce’s moved to a new location.
A plaque on the historic building provides a little more description…
This office building in the 1890’s contained the San Diego Savings Bank, the Public Library and the Humane Society!Keating Building is an important landmark in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter.
UPDATE!
I revisited the Keating Building during the San Diego Architectural Foundation’s OPEN HOUSE 2017. Here are some photos I took just outside and inside the building’s front entrance.
432 F Street is the address of the Gaslamp Quarter’s beautiful Keating Building, today the location of a 35-room luxury hotel.Elevator in the small lobby to what is now a boutique hotel.The original wooden banister leads up from the entrance of the Keating Building.Historical photos on wall beside the lobby’s stairs.A segment of a timeline that shows San Diego history around the time of the Keating Building’s construction.Entrance to The Keating hotel, seen from F Street.
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Just one of many colorful eateries along San Diego Avenue.
These pics offer a sample of the sort of Mexican-themed eateries one encounters in the commercial part of Old Town, which runs several blocks south of the State Park along San Diego Avenue. Lots of seating outdoors, an eyeful of festive colors and a cool, laid-back Southern California atmosphere.
Eating great Mexican food outdoors in San Diego’s Old Town.Fountain and splash of color in courtyard of an Old Town restaurant.Keep Calm and Drink Tequila.Old Town pedestrians can buy hot buttery tortillas.Ladies prepare fresh tortillas for people passing on the sidewalk.Bienvenidos a Old Town! Where great food and a festive atmosphere mingle with San Diego’s rich, colorful history.
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Here’s a photo taken on a weekday morning of Dick’s Last Resort in the Gaslamp. This wacky bar and restaurant chain with an intentionally-trained-to-be-obnoxious staff is jam-packed with all sorts of colorful customers most evenings and especially on weekends. Beer and good times are known to flow freely here!
Here are a couple more pics from other days:
Dick’s Last Resort seen from across Fourth Avenue.A very dour, funny unshaven dude with beer mug.
The Gaslamp Quarter is not only the Historic Heart of San Diego, as the iconic sign proclaims, but it has become the center of entertainment and dining for downtown’s burgeoning nightlife. The popular Hard Rock Hotel, seen in this photograph, is but one of scores of cool attractions lining bustling Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Avenues between Broadway and Harbor Drive. Pouring even more life into the Gaslamp is nearby Petco Park, the San Diego Convention Center and Horton Plaza.
This area of town, a few decades ago, had become the home to vacant old buildings, half-deserted warehouses and seedy bars attracting lonely sailors homeported in San Diego. Many say the catalyst for its modern transformation was the establishment of Croce’s restaurant and jazz bar on Fifth Avenue in 1985. The popular Croce’s was created as a tribute to legendary singer Jim Croce by his surviving wife Ingrid. As of 2014, Croce’s has moved to a different location on Bankers Hill.
Just a typical view of city life in the always lively Gaslamp Quarter.Fun, elaborate architecture can be seen all over the historic neighborhood.People dine at a restaurant in the heart of the Gaslamp district.Bar patrons watch a soccer game in style.People stop to enjoy a treat at Ghirardelli’s.Colorful stuff for sale in a touristy store window.Plaque tells a bit about the Louis Bank of Commerce Building.The legendary Louis Bank of Commerce Building attracts much attention!San Diego’s first granite building shows Baroque style architecture.
The two photos above show the Louis Bank of Commerce Building. In the late 1800’s it became home to the Oyster Bar, one of four saloons and gambling halls operated by Wyatt Earp when he lived in San Diego.
Canopy reads: Wyatt Earp’s Historic Gambling Hall and Saloon.Nesmith-Greely Building was built in the Romanesque Revival style.Greely Building contained office of the first woman attorney in California Bar Association.Elegant doorway of the 1888 building.I.O.O.F. Building’s cornerstone contains a stone from Solomon’s Temple!The 1882 Independent Order of Odd Fellows building.Closer view of the Classical Revival style I.O.O.F. building in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter.San Diego’s historic Old City Hall is an 1874 Florentine Italianate building.Two floors were added to Old City Hall to accommodate San Diego Public Library in 1887.The delightful entrance to Old City Hall.The Yuma Building was one of downtown’s first brick structures.The distinctive Yuma Building also dates from 1882.Looking down Fifth Avenue one early weekday morning.Grand Pacific Hotel was built in 1887 at this location.The distinctive old Victorian Grand Pacific Hotel in San Diego’s fantastic Gaslamp.Worker scrapes old paint as the years roll on.Old Town Trolley Tours bus exits the popular Gaslamp Quarter.
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There’s a surprise around every corner in Seaport Village. The inviting place, with its meandering paths, specialty shops, eateries, historic merry-go-round, tranquil duck pond and fountains is a fine place to spend a sunny afternoon. Even native San Diegans enjoy it! One can fly a kite in the neighboring Embarcadero Marina Park, barbeque by a picnic bench, and watch buskers perform. One can walk along the water and gaze out at the sparkling blue bay, sailboats and Coronado Island, or walk out on a working public pier for sweeping views from the Coronado Bay Bridge to the USS Midway, and beyond to Harbor Island.
Child takes delight at the Kite Flite shop in Seaport Village.Candied apples in window of the Seaport Village fudge store.Cookie shop lighthouse at Seaport Village.
You can see one of the Manchester Grand Hyatt towers in the background.
Folks board the Seal Tour amphibious vehicle for a harbor adventure.People sit on wall near the Pier Cafe.Pirate stands guard outside a Seaport Village nautical shop.Seaport Village street performer prepares to swallow fire.
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The historic El Cortez Hotel, now converted into condominiums, has been an iconic landmark in San Diego since 1926. Decades before gleaming skyscrapers rose to shape our modern skyline, the El Cortez dominated Cortez Hill and was the city’s tallest building.
The large sign on top, illuminated at night, brightly flashes the sequenced letters of “El Cortez” like a beacon out of the past. The El Cortez years ago had the world’s very first outside glass elevator. Known as the Starlight Express, the elevator brought visitors to the hotel’s penthouse restaurant, which featured amazing views of the growing city and the bay below. The hotel also had the world’s first motorized moving sidewalk!
I live several blocks from this wonderful building and love to gaze at it whenever I walk or drive past!
Here’s the famous El Cortez sign.The elegant front entrance of the El Cortez.Looking up at the stately old building.
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