If you visit Mother's Bar
in Sunset Beach, on any given day you may meet experts who will tell you all
sorts of things about Sunset Beach--and Mother's bar. We take each story
with a grain of salt (perfect for the rim of the glass of a blended
Margarita.) But Mothers specializes beer and serves quite a bit. So between
the stories the merry souls who imbibe at this Pacific Coast Highway
establishment provide, and the book, Sunset Beach Home Tour, we've come up
with intriguing information about this bright red building that looks pretty
old outside, and even older inside.
First, the walls in the
bar are plastered with photos of patrons, historic moments, and the ceilings
are coated with bras mostly. If you come for the first time and are so
inclined, you can take off your bra and have it stapled to there for
posterity.
The book about Sunset
Beach uses several articles as its source references for Mother's bar. Truth
is, according to these sources, the bar got its name from the Peter Gun TV
series that was popular in the 1950's. The red building (batten and board)
was once a ticket station for the Red Cars that ran from Los Angeles to
Tin-Can Beach (circa 1919.) That beach today is called Bolsa Chica State
Beach and is within the bounds of the city of Huntington Beach.
Next, it operated as a
bait shop, a practical endeavor for the fishing opportunities popular along
this stretch of coast. Tom Jackson purchased the property in 1959, and was
told that building had also been a real estate office, a bakery and the red
car ticket office during 1908 to 1912.
During the prohibition it
was a speakeasy camouflaged as a coffee shop. To put the prohibition into
perspective, there were many coastal (West Coast)
rum
running, bootlegging and speakeasies such as Moss Beach Distillery in
San Mateo County. Rum runners worked in the dark of the night, meeting
nearshore vessels that brought whiskey, rum and other types of liquor from
places such as Canada and Mexico. In the same cove no more than a mile or
two down the road in Seal Beach rum runners also worked their illegal trade
for 13 years from 1920 to 1933. When Tom Jackson removed the floor of the
building to install a new floor surface, he discovered piles of liquor
bottles.
In 1977 Peter Duval
purchased the business, owning and operating it for a decade from 1977 to
1987. Duvall was known in the local community, serving as president of the
Sunset Beach Community Association. Sold to Tina Lautner in 1987, she
commented that the customers and community "own" Mothers, they take care of
Mothers, "and I get to pay the bills."
Located in an
historic building was once a ticket station
for the Pacific Electric train (so one employee claims), this bright red
building has few of its original elements, though much has been replaced
since the building was constructed in the early 1900s.
Mother's Bar in Sunset
Beach California— Leave your attitude at home
because you will be ignored if you bring it into Mother's. The cozy bar
with TV, a fan and even bands in a corner where they manage to squeeze
in, are a few of the things you may find when you go to Mother's.
Among the bands featured
at Mother's are Brad Wilson and Parkai Moon. Rock groups that find this bar
with its Harley-packed parking spaces in front of the building a real
cultural icon have included members of the band, Sublime. And of course you
know that in star-studded Sunset Beach not only rockers and lawyers reside,
but the likes of Cameron Diaz, Sandra Bullock and hubby Jesse James, owner
of West Coast Choppers and star and host of Discovery Channel's Monster
Garage.
