Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

IB's Plank: Drinking in history

It's not on the pier, but IB's oldest pub delivers its own atmosphere

Oh man: Eat on the pier, or eat here, at Ye Olde Plank?

I’m leaning on IB’s sea wall, looking out at the ocean. And from the far end of that lo-ong pier, lights glow across the angry waters. The fish place, the Tin Fish.

Can’t resist the idea of fish and chips out there in the fading light, surrounded by ocean. So, like half a mile’s slogging later I’m getting to the end of this long, knobbly-planked pier – only to find the place is closed for the day. Big gnarly fence gate slammed right across.

Sigh. Another half-mile back, and thank goodness, Ye Olde Plank’s still open. I’ve always liked it. Heck it’s been here since 1886. That's when it opened as a liquor store.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/07/45137/

Looks kinda cozy, with the palm trees and the planks climbing its walls, and the city’s big statue of a surfer silhouetted against the night sky, and through the door you can see the palapa bar with its luminous puffer fish and diver helmets and dollar bills laced in the thatch.

And a beautiful ship's bell.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/07/45139/

“You doing food?” I ask the guy at the door.

“Sort of. You need to talk to the barman,” he says.

I go in and hoist up onto a stool at the island bar.

Oh yeah. Now I remember. This is where they had a totally fabulous Sunday Brunch. Like a 6 or 8-ounce steak, (your choice) or say half a dozen sausages, or a ham, plus one to TEN egg omelets (your choice, but you had to eat them), home fries, AND a drink, like for $5.95. Six bucks! It was incredible.

“We don’t really do food anymore,” says the barman. “But I can do you some chicken wings.”

Well it is around nine at night. He goes into the cooler-room and comes out with BBQ wings. Sounds good to me.

So for $4, I get me half a dozen pretty delicious BBQ wings, and with an extra $3.25, a pint of Bud. Other nights they have different, but still simple dishes.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/07/45138/

So I’m not pigging out on fish with a view to Hawaii from the end of the pier, but I could easily settle in here. Because the music’s starting, conversation’s pretty good around the bar, and oh Lord. Discover they have Arrogant Bastard on tap.

’Course if I stay, Carla’s gonna kill me. But you don’t get real pubs like this every day…

And you’ve got the ghosts of all the other guys who’ve been coming in here and getting into trouble with their wives for staying out too long for, like, 117 years.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Making Love to Goats, Rachmaninoff, and Elgar

Next Article

Angry Pete’s goes from pop-up to drive-thru

Detroit Pizza sidles into the husk of a shuttered Taco Bell

Oh man: Eat on the pier, or eat here, at Ye Olde Plank?

I’m leaning on IB’s sea wall, looking out at the ocean. And from the far end of that lo-ong pier, lights glow across the angry waters. The fish place, the Tin Fish.

Can’t resist the idea of fish and chips out there in the fading light, surrounded by ocean. So, like half a mile’s slogging later I’m getting to the end of this long, knobbly-planked pier – only to find the place is closed for the day. Big gnarly fence gate slammed right across.

Sigh. Another half-mile back, and thank goodness, Ye Olde Plank’s still open. I’ve always liked it. Heck it’s been here since 1886. That's when it opened as a liquor store.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/07/45137/

Looks kinda cozy, with the palm trees and the planks climbing its walls, and the city’s big statue of a surfer silhouetted against the night sky, and through the door you can see the palapa bar with its luminous puffer fish and diver helmets and dollar bills laced in the thatch.

And a beautiful ship's bell.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/07/45139/

“You doing food?” I ask the guy at the door.

“Sort of. You need to talk to the barman,” he says.

I go in and hoist up onto a stool at the island bar.

Oh yeah. Now I remember. This is where they had a totally fabulous Sunday Brunch. Like a 6 or 8-ounce steak, (your choice) or say half a dozen sausages, or a ham, plus one to TEN egg omelets (your choice, but you had to eat them), home fries, AND a drink, like for $5.95. Six bucks! It was incredible.

“We don’t really do food anymore,” says the barman. “But I can do you some chicken wings.”

Well it is around nine at night. He goes into the cooler-room and comes out with BBQ wings. Sounds good to me.

So for $4, I get me half a dozen pretty delicious BBQ wings, and with an extra $3.25, a pint of Bud. Other nights they have different, but still simple dishes.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/07/45138/

So I’m not pigging out on fish with a view to Hawaii from the end of the pier, but I could easily settle in here. Because the music’s starting, conversation’s pretty good around the bar, and oh Lord. Discover they have Arrogant Bastard on tap.

’Course if I stay, Carla’s gonna kill me. But you don’t get real pubs like this every day…

And you’ve got the ghosts of all the other guys who’ve been coming in here and getting into trouble with their wives for staying out too long for, like, 117 years.

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.