In January, the third Annual Marketing Breakfast was put on through the Business Development Series. This year, it was held at the Ocean Beach Playhouse. It was a great venue for the event with the stage and amount of room at the venue for merchants.
Tami Fuller, Ascent Real Estate, hosted a great sundowner at Wonderland Ocean Pub. There was a record attendance – 100+ merchants – and everyone had a great time.
Las Brisas Dry Cleaners closed after being a part of the community for three generations and the local pet shop Bone Appetit moved into their location.
A new tree was planted on Bacon St in front of Bravo’s Restaurant as part of the City’s tree-planting grant program.
A second meeting of the Business Development Series was held at the Ocean Beach Playhouse in February. This event was sponsored by member Natalie Chappius of Edward Jones. The focus was on Business Taxes and Social Security, and the group learned so much from the Social Security specialist.
The Wonderland Mural from the OB Street Fair was installed at 5010 Newport Ave on the side of Hodad's.
With the help of two local designers, we installed new spring- and summer-themed entryway and Newport Ave banners. Jenn David of Jenn David Designs and Ashley Lewis of Dog Beach Design were instrumental in working to freshen up the art for the banners.
SD Fire Department Truck 20 from the Midway Ave area was helpful in getting a new California state flag hung on the pole at Veterans Plaza. The flag was donated by Senator Marty Block, and the OB Community Development Corporation helped in coordinating the installation.
The Ocean Beach Playhouse welcomed our group again for the third time in two months when they hosted the February Sundowner. The delicious food was provided by Surf Rider Pizza Café.
Shades Oceanfront Bistro hosted a pet adoption in conjunction with several local shelters and pet rescues.
Espresso Cucina re-opened in the same location that previously held Espresso Ristorante. Chris Stavros, owner of the Olive Tree Marketplace, bought the restaurant and remodeled and re-opened it.
In March, Kevin Faulconer, our City Councilman, was elected Mayor after Bob Filner had to resign mid term. California Assemblymember Toni Atkins was selected as the next Speaker of the House.
A very fun open house-style sundowner was hosted by two local businesses – each providing their own food, drinks and desserts. Lynnel’s Hair Design and Coastal Sage Gardening, who are neighbors, were happy to host a big group of merchants.
The OceanBeachSanDiego.com website was re-developed and launched with the work of the Promotion Committee along with our local webmaster, Josh Utley, Intrepid Network, Inc.
Surfrider, I Love a Clean San Diego, and Dog Beach Dog Wash partnered up to host the annual Creek to Bay Clean Up. Volunteers showed up with their buckets and spent hours cleaning up the coastal area.
The Friends of the OB Library held a book sale and raised a record amount of money.
The Promotion Committee got together to clean up the old banners hanging along the entryway and Newport Ave. The banners will now be sold through the online store to raise money for the community.
The OB MainStreet Association Board of Directors was happy to take a retreat in April to Imperial Beach. The group stayed at the SeaCoast Hotel and enjoyed breakfast and dinner at the Cohn Restaurant Group’s Sea 180 Degrees Restaurant. We worked as a group on community goals and also spent several hours with members of the City, Lifeguard and local public works departments. It was brief, but it was very productive, and everyone enjoyed themselves.
On April 22, 2014, the City of San Diego and the California Coastal Commission issued the Coastal Development Permit for the police trailer in the OB Pier parking lot.
Hostelling International Point Loma co-hosted a Sundowner with Gaglione Brothers, and members were excited to tour the lovely property and ate very well.
The Kiwanis of Ocean Beach held their annual Kite Festival in May. The event takes place at Dusty Rhodes Park and has now been moved to May, and it worked well.
Working with the Western Division of the SDPD, the Police Trailer located in the OB Pier parking lot was replaced with a trailer much smaller to take up the least amount of space in the lot as possible.
The Hospitality Group held its Restaurant and Hospitality Week at the end of April. The week-long event kicked off with a launch party at four local hotels: Ocean Villa Inn, Inn at Sunset Cliffs, Ocean Beach Hotel, and Elsbree House B&B. Attendees put their information in for a raffle at each location they visited, and there were gift baskets gifted valued at up to $750 at each location. People also enjoyed food and drinks from the participating locations.
The May Sundowner was co-hosted by OB Waves Salon and Mother’s Saloon, neighbors on the north end of Bacon St. Erica from OB Waves Salon was very welcoming and offered more raffle prizes than any other sundowner has ever had!
Several local community groups got together at the beginning of June to host a Public Safety Appreciation BBQ at the foot of Newport Ave. Many people showed up to enjoy a day at the park with their loved ones and members from the Lifeguards, the SD Fire Department, and the SD Police Department were on hand to enjoy a delicious BBQ meal and some great weather.
The 35th Annual OB Street Fair and Chili Cook-Off Festival was held on Saturday, June 28, and was a great success. The weather was fantastic and there was a broad range of activities for all ages, over two dozen bands performing throughout the day, and to commemorate the custom board game Ocean Beach-opoly, we staged an interactive game in the middle of the festival based on the ideas of Ocean Beach-opoly.
The Ocean Beach Security Program launched as a three-month pilot program. The goal of the program was to have more feet on the street documenting quality of life issues. Over 35 local business owners contributed to the program to get it going.
In conjunction with the Economic Restructuring committee, our Crime Prevention committee was able to work with Senator Marty Block’s office to have SB 1295 passed into legislation allowing for Letters of Authorization to be on file for twelve months instead of six. This was a huge victory for the committee.
On June 18, the OB Town Council unveiled the new entryway sign that was put in place to replace the original termite-riddled sign put in over twenty years ago.
The 4th of July Fireworks off the Pier were another great success. This year, the OB Town Council ran a public service campaign to Mallow Out. Over the years, the fun of the neighborhood marshmallow fight at the end of the fireworks show had become a little too rambunctious for the community and the beach-goers. Also, there was a real concern about the damage done by the remnants. All of the community groups came together to remind people that it was a bad idea and to ask them to all Mallow Out. The campaign was a success.
The OBMA Board of Directors elections were held in July and the following Board Members were re-elected to their seats: Craig Gerwig, Matt Kalla, Chris Wilmot, Barbara Iacometti, and Tevia Oskin.
We were happy to enjoy an evening with the staff from Young at Art. They opened their studio up for the July Sundowner and Mike from The Joint served a delicious array of food from their menu.
In August, the Ocean Beach Historical Society released their book of history on the community, Ocean Beach.
Surfrider hosted their Annual Paddle Around the Pier with hundreds of surfers and paddlers on Sept 21.
The Ocean Beach Town Council hosted their Annual Pancake Breakfast on the Pier and had glorious weather. Many local merchants participated as sponsors. OBTC served hundreds of pancakes.
Catrina Russell, Coldwell Banker hosted a sundowner with OB Noodle House Bar 1502. The weather was fantastic, and everyone enjoyed seeing the newly opened restaurant.
The 10th Annual OB Oktoberfest was a success. The Ocean Beach Community Foundation held another Brat Trot to raise money for the community, and people enjoyed live music all night on Friday and all day and into the night on Saturday night.
October brought the Annual OBMA Awards Dinner to the Masonic Center. We were happy to be tweeted by Assemblymember Atkins, “What a fun wonderful, upbeat event” and she was right. The group has become more comfortable with the OB Pledge of Allegiance and were happy to celebrate with their red clown noses on. So fun!
We were saddened to hear about the passing of a local business person, Cristos Stavros. Cristos and his family have operated local businesses and participated at the community level for years and years.
