Coffee's king rankles in Ocean Beach

The Starbucks on Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach recently posted a sign that directed non-customers to use restrooms at nearby businesses.

When the sign was posted on the restroom door earlier this week, someone asked them to remove it; after they refused, someone took it down for them.

“I didn’t even know about it,” Sal, the owner of OB Kabob, told me. “A customer told me about it and I said, ‘No, it’s not okay.’ I think he went and took it down, but that was not okay for them to post it.”

Tyler, a manager at Pizza Port was totally surprised.

“I was not aware that they did that,” he said. “Especially in this area, you know, we’re not okay with this. But with that said, I haven’t noticed an influx of people coming in to use our restroom; but then again, we get really busy, but I will go talk to them today and see what’s up.”

When I called Starbucks, Kelly, the employee who answered the phone, said they don’t have any such sign. “It says, ‘For customers only.’” I explained that it has since been taken down and she said she didn’t know anything about it. The manager was unavailable for comment, as was anyone from Starbucks' corporate office.