Walk Newport Avenue this month and you'll pass two storefronts mid-transition within sight of each other. At 5049, a combined bar-and-taco concept that lasted less than three years is being gutted for something new. At 4994, a taco operation that keeps outgrowing its own success just opened its third location.
The history behind the 5049 storefront starts with the tenants that came before Drink 182.
Three Tenants, One Storefront
5049 Newport Avenue has had several previous tenants. Its earlier tenant was JJ's Sports Bar & Grill, and after that came a joint Cass Street Bar & Grill and Harry's Taco Shop concept sharing the same space, an arrangement that SanDiegoVille described as bringing two Pacific Beach concepts to Ocean Beach. Cass Street Bar had started across town in Pacific Beach before expanding into the OB location, and Harry's Taco Shop was launched by the team behind Mike's Taco Club. Both concepts had roots elsewhere, and the combined concept lasted less than three years before closing.
The operators moving in this summer are introducing a different concept at the address. SanDiegoVille described it as having a distinct identity.
What's Moving In: Drink 182
The new tenant is Drink 182, a bar, coffee shop, and arcade concept built around pop-punk nostalgia, opening at 5049 Newport Avenue under the ownership of local operators Jason Wildes and Joshua Dunn. The venue secured an active Type 47 restaurant liquor license through Drink 182 OB, LLC, and the business had targeted a mid-to-late July 2026 opening, so if the timeline held, it should already be pouring coffee by the time you're reading this.
The people behind it have real ties to the scene the concept borrows from. Co-founder Jay Nightride runs the music production studio Nightride Visuals, has worked with artists including Steve Aoki, Lil Jon, and Fall Out Boy, and plays in Death Cab for Karaoke, a live karaoke band that performs monthly at Soda Bar. His partner Tony Jaw has spent over a decade in local bar and hospitality work, most recognizably running the karaoke booth at Redwing Bar & Grill. Morning coffee service comes from James Coffee Co., whose co-owner David Kennedy plays in Angels & Airwaves alongside blink-182's Tom DeLonge, which is as close as the venue gets to an official band connection despite the name. After dark, the menu shifts to New England-style beach pizza, a niche style one of the founders picked up growing up near Boston, plus cocktails, local craft beer, and arcade games. The walls carry original artwork from San Diego artist Konecki.
The detail that matters most for anyone who actually lives in OB: the operators have said they plan to stay open until 2 a.m. on weekends and on Wednesdays specifically, timed to the Ocean Beach MainStreet Association's weekly farmers market, which runs Newport Avenue every Wednesday from 4 to 8 p.m. That's not an accident. A bar built around nostalgia and community only works if it plugs into an event the neighborhood already shows up for.
A Few Doors Down, Another Expansion
A few storefronts away, at 4994 Newport Avenue, Chula Tacos opened its third location on August 1, according to San Diego Magazine's coverage of the expansion. This isn't a business trying to find an identity. It's one that keeps running into the opposite problem: too many customers, too fast, in spaces too small to hold them.
Founder Munoz's original stand was shut down by the city following complaints about noise and traffic. He didn't sit on it. From the time the city closed him down to the time he had keys to his first brick-and-mortar space was less than two days, and he was already in talks to hand his old space at 1719 Palm Avenue in the Nestor neighborhood to another restaurateur rather than let it sit vacant. His second location, in Chula Vista, caught fire on Valentine's Day and is slated to reopen this fall at 689 H Street. The third just landed on Newport Avenue, and he's already scouting a fourth somewhere between Ocean Beach and Morena Boulevard.
San Diego Magazine quoted Munoz saying:
"I'd like to become the In-N-Out of tacos."
It is an ambitious goal, and it signals how far Munoz hopes to take the business.
Two Corners, Side By Side
| 5049 Newport Ave | 4994 Newport Ave | |
|---|---|---|
| Former tenant(s) | JJ's Sports Bar & Grill, Cass Street Bar & Grill, Harry's Taco Shop | N/A (new location) |
| Business context | A new concept following previous tenants | Adding capacity for a concept that keeps outgrowing its space |
| New arrival | Drink 182 (bar, coffee, arcade) | Chula Tacos (third location) |
| Opening status | Targeted for mid-to-late July 2026 | Opened August 1, 2026 |
| Built by | Local operators Jason Wildes and Joshua Dunn | Founder Munoz, expanding from two prior locations |
What This Actually Means If You Live Here
Newport Avenue is seeing two different business changes. Drink 182 is moving into a storefront with previous tenants, while Chula Tacos has opened a third location on the avenue.
If you've lived here a while, you've probably watched Newport Avenue change over time. The avenue is also associated with Hodad's world-famous burgers, OB's antique district, and a Wednesday farmers market.
If You Want To Beat The Crowd
Both openings are worth a walk for different reasons. Drink 182 is easiest to catch on a Wednesday evening, when the farmers market crowd spills down Newport Avenue between 4 and 8 p.m. and the bar plans to be open to meet it. Chula Tacos, if its first two locations are any indication, will keep drawing enough traffic that an early visit beats a weekend one. Either way, the same three-block business strip has two new reasons to slow down this month, and neither of them requires you to drive anywhere else in the city to find them.
Whether you're watching Newport Avenue's storefronts change because you live two blocks away or because you're weighing what a neighborhood like this actually offers day to day, that kind of turnover tells you more about a place than a listing sheet ever will. If you're thinking about what it would take to call Ocean Beach or another San Diego neighborhood home, especially if you're using a VA loan or relocating on a military timeline, Alanna Strei can walk you through what these neighborhoods are really like to live in. Book your free VA relocation consultation and start with the block-by-block details that actually matter.
