Beatniks at The Zodiac in San Diego 1959

August 21, 1959
The film label reads ‘Beatniks.’ Unfortunately, there is no script in the files. It’s likely it was shot for stock footage. It’s an incredible glimpse into the long-gone Zodiac Coffeehouse in San Diego. Here is a little info from a San Diego Reader article by Lou Curtiss: It was about 1957 when I first went into the Zodiac (a coffeehouse European) down at 11th and Broadway at street level below the old Pacific Ballroom. That night I heard a folksinger named Mickey Myers and met the owner, a guy named Dick Masterson who also owned a place called the Zen Coffee House and Motorcycle Repair Shop down at Broadway and India. The next week I saw Judy Henske and Fred Gerlach there. In the next couple of years I got around San Diego’s early coffeehouse scene fairly thoroughly. Each place (much like those today) had its specialty although then it was the Age of the Beatnik and the word coffeehouse was sort of suspect. The Zodiac proclaimed itself San Diego’s only Oriental-style coffee house (there was a large dragon mural on the wall).

[@haroldhumerickhouse7904]

That bass really sets the tone.

[@nickolasevanovich]

Reminds me of Blue's Clues haha

[@roberttemple2521]

Sailors in a beatnik bar, very interesting.

[@guitarttimman]

Love that guitar work❤

[@HarleyQuinn-nl7zv]

I remember those days where you could actually smoke in bars and restaurants! 🚬😗🚬😗💨

[@dwjones910]

Better times

[@t-bo-lesotho]

Freedom is a quaint remnant of a bygone era.

[@christianmohr2993]

Back when America was free

[@johnjaco5544]

Dig it daddy O.

[@internationalicon]

Digging the low-rent vibes, man. The bullfight poster, the paper-mache art, the bent pan for the hot milk … The Zodiac wasn’t exactly upscale, but it was jazzy fun, I bet. Wonder what the musical entertainment actually sounded like?

[@haroldhumerickhouse7904]

Dig that beat, man.

[@jesusislukeskywalker4294]

🚬😎

[@mmeyers111]

They served a very unique “Tea” for cool beatniks.

[@guitarttimman]

Who was the guitarist? Wow! That guy was an incredible guitarist. I was able to piece some of licks together, but it's tough to get his down perfectly. I learned from him.

[@johnl1685]

Nice rare footage. ( I only wish the music you picked was of the era.)

[@jaminova_1969]

This is about a decade or two before my time, but does any one here remember Foggy's Notion's, The Rockin Bacchanal, Carlos Murphy's, and The Spirit Club?

[@charlesgross3586]

Spirit Club on Moreno Blvd!!
My band The Realm opened for The Trowsers 🎶🏁🎱

[@FRANKIESIXTOES]

Beats loved coffee man

[@christopherb1483]

Looks like a 1959 KAY Calypso Acoustic guitar? Liked the Fender Duosonic and the Tweed Amp Had the same Plaza De Toros Bullfighting poster from '59 as well. HA!
Crazy man CRAZY...
Like Scooby Doo BAH!
So far away removed from people crawling around on Fentanyl.
We live in such a different BIZzARO Universe.

[@osricwolfing4553]

Dig that bass line going up and down.

[@lorabor8967]

Like the music

[@Zeitronaut]

It was at 11th and Broadway. Today it's a parking lot.

[@BarbaraPineda-v9p]

Nother places had beats n... westerner states, cali, san francisco, and also commentwealth, states, philad, pennsylvania... brotherly, love's, i heard of thats terms befor for fews peoples, not many peoples, those days genern... was bsby boomers 1940s 1950s 1960s, cold war's, the fifthy mc cartney's they's once said he's a commie.he's was at a rooms, chattering with the senates he's teying too explsined abouts his situationals abouts envolves with doing the times also he's a left wink whats thats terms means, liberals i was born thats yrs, 1950s cold war's, i do remembered thats yrs, 1955s i was born and i saw this victorians, man's on a old brws heavy, wooden t.v. and the screens lights gry. These old t.v. was'nt thats good becuz... the screens ehen turned on with a fingers rights hand, it's not so clearly the pict i can only saw partly gry... screen and refect... of the individ.... so not a perfected pict

[@optimusprinceps3526]

Coolest 👍 unlike today's Generation Ztard

[@jaminova_1969]

I call them Generation "Why?"

[@Zeitronaut]

Neither of you L7s would have been there. As evidenced by your get off my lawn boomer talk.

[@optimusprinceps3526]

@@Zeitronaut I've seen the band L7 several times

[@DiegoGonzalez-kh3eb]

Ok boomer

[@optimusprinceps3526]

@@DiegoGonzalez-kh3eb Falsum Nuntium Tace Stultus Spintria