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

He crashed Ford F-150 through the Bancroft's wall as band was starting

And there's more —Tower Bar, The Jewel Box, Zombie Lounge, Tobacco Rhoda’s, Wong's

A sign on the bulletin board reads, "It isn't a successful BBQ until some drunken idiot walks face first into a closed sliding glass door. I'm fine, by the way."
A sign on the bulletin board reads, "It isn't a successful BBQ until some drunken idiot walks face first into a closed sliding glass door. I'm fine, by the way."

It happens. Rob Logic, owner of the Bancroft in Spring Valley, can rattle off a list, starting with the time in 1964 when James Nelson Spencer smashed his Pontiac Bonneville through the front door of the Tower Bar in City Heights. (A genuine tragedy — one dead and seven injured — though that didn’t stop the establishment from putting a photo of the wreck at the top of its website with the tagline, “Stop in for a drink.”) After that, there’s “The Jewel Box, Zombie Lounge, Tobacco Rhoda’s — that one I watched; it was a taxi — Wong’s…”

Sponsored
Sponsored
Place

Bancroft

9143 Campo Road, Spring Valley

Only the first and last of those remain in operation. Also, as of April 27, The Bancroft, which may be the only one to get the business from a patron.

The man who chose “Drive” instead of “Reverse” and crashed his Ford F-150 through the bar’s wall just as the band was starting its set “has been coming here for years with his friends,” says Logic. “He was here for a retirement party.” After a couple of beers, he asked for a shot. “We said, ‘What’s in it?’ He didn’t know, so we said, ‘Then you can’t have it.’ He laughed and walked away. He didn’t leave mad,” and he didn’t leave for three drinkless hours. Go figure.

The photo on Logic’s phone shows the truck where the pool table should be — and where he had been standing a minute earlier. “I took out the recycling, and just as I threw the bag in — boom! I was, like, Who’s launching fireworks again? I had talked to a band about it two weeks earlier. Then I heard breaking glass. Who dropped a case at the same time? Sometimes, your brain just can’t process what’s happening.”

Trauma was relatively minor. “The guys who got hit were shooting pool.” They had been regulars when it was Fannie’s, stopped coming when they tired of the fight life, and returned when Logic took over and replaced punches with punk. “One guy got a broken leg. One got pushed through my office door. Another was in the corner drinking, because they’d told him he wasn’t drunk enough to make his shot.” He got missed. “They all came back the next day — we opened at noon, just to be open. Hugs all ‘round. They said, ‘Of course we’re coming back. We love the bar, and we love you.’ That feels really good; it means I’ve done something right. That’s kind of why I have the bar.”

Repairs are underway — physical and otherwise. “I saw four or five stupid memes online, and I was, like, ‘Oh, no.’ Then a buddy made one that said, ‘Crash the party,’ and I was, like, ‘Okay, this one’s ours. Let’s make shirts.’ Because as we’ve all seen online, if you don’t get in charge of your presence, then someone else will, and what are they going to do with it? It happened; people are going to talk about it. We just tried to get out ahead of it.”

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

Coyote tracks in frail San Diego avocado grove

Second place winner in Reader neighborhood writing contest
A sign on the bulletin board reads, "It isn't a successful BBQ until some drunken idiot walks face first into a closed sliding glass door. I'm fine, by the way."
A sign on the bulletin board reads, "It isn't a successful BBQ until some drunken idiot walks face first into a closed sliding glass door. I'm fine, by the way."

It happens. Rob Logic, owner of the Bancroft in Spring Valley, can rattle off a list, starting with the time in 1964 when James Nelson Spencer smashed his Pontiac Bonneville through the front door of the Tower Bar in City Heights. (A genuine tragedy — one dead and seven injured — though that didn’t stop the establishment from putting a photo of the wreck at the top of its website with the tagline, “Stop in for a drink.”) After that, there’s “The Jewel Box, Zombie Lounge, Tobacco Rhoda’s — that one I watched; it was a taxi — Wong’s…”

Sponsored
Sponsored
Place

Bancroft

9143 Campo Road, Spring Valley

Only the first and last of those remain in operation. Also, as of April 27, The Bancroft, which may be the only one to get the business from a patron.

The man who chose “Drive” instead of “Reverse” and crashed his Ford F-150 through the bar’s wall just as the band was starting its set “has been coming here for years with his friends,” says Logic. “He was here for a retirement party.” After a couple of beers, he asked for a shot. “We said, ‘What’s in it?’ He didn’t know, so we said, ‘Then you can’t have it.’ He laughed and walked away. He didn’t leave mad,” and he didn’t leave for three drinkless hours. Go figure.

The photo on Logic’s phone shows the truck where the pool table should be — and where he had been standing a minute earlier. “I took out the recycling, and just as I threw the bag in — boom! I was, like, Who’s launching fireworks again? I had talked to a band about it two weeks earlier. Then I heard breaking glass. Who dropped a case at the same time? Sometimes, your brain just can’t process what’s happening.”

Trauma was relatively minor. “The guys who got hit were shooting pool.” They had been regulars when it was Fannie’s, stopped coming when they tired of the fight life, and returned when Logic took over and replaced punches with punk. “One guy got a broken leg. One got pushed through my office door. Another was in the corner drinking, because they’d told him he wasn’t drunk enough to make his shot.” He got missed. “They all came back the next day — we opened at noon, just to be open. Hugs all ‘round. They said, ‘Of course we’re coming back. We love the bar, and we love you.’ That feels really good; it means I’ve done something right. That’s kind of why I have the bar.”

Repairs are underway — physical and otherwise. “I saw four or five stupid memes online, and I was, like, ‘Oh, no.’ Then a buddy made one that said, ‘Crash the party,’ and I was, like, ‘Okay, this one’s ours. Let’s make shirts.’ Because as we’ve all seen online, if you don’t get in charge of your presence, then someone else will, and what are they going to do with it? It happened; people are going to talk about it. We just tried to get out ahead of it.”

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

Yo-Yo Ma, Wagner, and Tchaikovsky come to San Diego

Next Article

Gonzo Report: Stinkfoot Orchestra conjures Zappa at Winstons

His music is a blend of technical excellence and not-so-subtle humor
Comments
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.