An institution is closing. The Green Flash in Pacific Beach will shutter in the next few weeks after 24 years at the oceanfront location. It wasn’t the pinnacle of cuisine. It’s not the birthplace of the cronut. It wasn’t where Brussels Sprouts resuscitated their career. But The Green Flash had head-punching Bloody Marys and a porch on the boardwalk of one of the craziest, druggiest, half-nakedest stretches of beachfront in San Diego, where the hopes of horny 20-somethings paraded alongside the regrets of thirsty 60-somethings. It’s also the place that made the optical trick of the sunset—when the yellow fireball momentarily flashes a tiny green hat, big woop—into an elusive rite of passage, along the lines of grunion runs or snapping pics of yetis. It was an institution, and its passing feels like a panda has croaked. A rep from the restaurant says that the group behind Cabo Cantina will be taking over. Expect a program built on rock, hoots, hollers.
RIP Green Flash
