Gaslamp Social From Bar Rescue Has Closed

Gaslamp Social in San Diego, California which appeared on season 7 of Bar Rescue has closed.  The bar had to shut down during the pandemic and in August of 2020, their landlord served them with a 3-day eviction notice.  The owner Phil Paccione reached out to the mayor and the San Diego city attorney hoping the city's eviction moratorium would help save his business, but that didn't work out.  A judge ruled in favor of the landlord, who plans to redevelop the building and build a luxury hotel,

In a local news article, the company who owned the building wrote a letter which said, 

"The Sheriff conducted the lockout today, April 20, 2021 at 8:30 this morning. A copy of Jolt’n Joe’s eviction notice is attached. Unfortunately, this tenant has had a long history of non-payment of rent, lease defaults and non-performance of lease obligations. All of these defaults existed long before, and unrelated to, the pandemic. In a 2020 agreement the tenant was required to perform certain obligations before it went into effect, which he did not perform, therefore, the agreement became null and void and the eviction process began.

The judge in this case ruled that the tenant did not perform as required under the lease, granted Judgment in favor of the landlord and ordered possession of the property returned to the landlord. The court ruled that this was a lawful eviction action because the case was already pending when the San Diego ordinance went into effect on February 1, 2021 so the ordinance’s eviction moratorium does not apply to this case.

We are sorry that this tenant’s business failed. We have all been deeply impacted financially by the pandemic. But this tenant’s failure was not attributable to the pandemic.

There have been two distinct moratoriums in place in the City of San Diego. The first ordinance expired on September 30, 2020. The second one, enacted on January 26, 2021, went into effect on February 1, 2021. The court found that the tenant was not protected by either ordinance, therefore the landlord prevailed at trial.”

So, it appears Gaslamp had issues with payments before the pandemic hit and there was no way to apply the moratorium to help extend the lease.

Gaslamp Social was originally called Jolt'n Joe's before the Bar Rescue makeover, which happened in January of 2020.  The bar was closed for some time during the pandemic and is now officially closed for good after the court's decision in April 2021.  Gaslamp Social is marked as 'Closed' on the Bar Rescue Updates Page.