Coronado’s Legendary "The Little Club" Closing After 60 Years
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Mysterious Buyer With Ties To Swagyu Acquires Building
A beloved Coronado dive bar that has poured cheap beers for sailors and locals for more than half a century is about to close its doors, and the quiet sale of the building behind it has unexpectedly tied one of the island’s last old-school watering holes to an Mexican business empire that has already stirred controversy in San Diego’s restaurant scene.
One of Coronado’s most enduring neighborhood watering holes is preparing to pour its final round. The Little Club, a small but storied dive bar located on Orange Avenue, will close at the end of March after more than half a century serving sailors, locals, and generations of island regulars.
The closure comes after the building housing the bar was sold last year, setting in motion a chain of events that ultimately left ownership without a path forward to continue operating at the site. For many longtime patrons, the news marks the end of an era for a bar that became as much a social institution as a business.
Originally opened in the mid-1960s and purchased by Barbara Roswell in the early 1970s, The Little Club spent decades in the hands of the same family. Roswell, who bought the bar following her divorce, cultivated a welcoming environment that quickly became part of Coronado’s local fabric. One of her traditions, hosting Thanksgiving dinners for sailors stationed far from home, helped cement the bar’s reputation as a place where community mattered more than profit.
After Roswell passed away in 1999, the business was passed down to her children before eventually involving her grandson, Tim Turner, who spent much of his childhood inside the bar. Turner later acquired a share of the business and has helped operate it in recent years.
For decades, The Little Club operated in a building owned by longtime property owner Virginia “Ginny” Darbin, who lived to be 100. After her passing, the property was placed into a trust and eventually sold in 2025. Turner attempted to purchase the building himself in an effort to preserve the bar but was outbid, and the new ownership later issued a notice that ultimately sealed the bar’s fate.
The longtime Little Club building was reportedly acquired by an entity linked to Mexican businessman Juan José Arellano Hernández, the Mazatlán-based founder of the diversified Grupo ARHE business conglomerate and the current lead investor behind San Diego’s expanding Swagyu Burger chain. Hernández has rapidly become a visible figure in the region’s restaurant landscape over the past year as his group has acquired multiple commercial spaces around Petco Park and launched new dining concepts in the East Village, including El Prieto Taco Shop and Bobby's Pizza.
Hernández’s presence in San Diego has grown beyond downtown real estate. The businessman is also reported to own a sprawling bayfront residential property on Coronado near the home of San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado, placing him among a small circle of high-net-worth residents with ties to the island.
His business empire in Mexico has at times attracted scrutiny from investigative journalists. Previous reporting by Mexican nonprofit outlets Quinto Elemento and Ríodoce detailed past inquiries by Mexico’s Financial Intelligence Unit into financial transactions involving companies connected to the Grupo ARHE network. Hernández has strongly denied any wrongdoing and has challenged those reports in court, maintaining that independent audits found the company’s finances to be lawful. No criminal charges have been filed against him in either Mexico or the United States.
While the end of the lease means the bar’s days at Orange Avenue are numbered, Turner has said he is exploring the possibility of reopening The Little Club in a new location somewhere in the region.
For many Coronado residents, the loss of The Little Club represents something bigger than the closing of a single bar. Over the decades, it became known as a gathering place for an eclectic mix of patrons, from young sailors on shore leave to longtime island residents catching up with neighbors.
The bar’s interior remained intentionally modest, a dimly lit room with wood-paneled walls, a pool table, jukebox music, and bartenders who often knew regulars by name. Drinks were famously affordable, a holdover from the bar’s early days as a haven for Navy personnel returning from months at sea.
Unlike many bars in the area, The Little Club never served food. Instead, customers were encouraged to bring meals from nearby restaurants, a practice that reinforced its casual neighborhood atmosphere.
Over time, the bar also became a kind of unofficial reunion spot for Coronado High School alumni and longtime locals. Many patrons say it was one of the few places on the island where visitors were almost guaranteed to run into someone they knew.
Even in its final weeks, the bar has remained busy, with regulars gathering nightly for beers, pool games, and one last chance to soak in a place that feels increasingly rare in modern Southern California.
As Coronado has evolved over the years - adding luxury developments, upscale restaurants, and tourism-focused businesses - The Little Club managed to hold onto its identity as a no-frills neighborhood bar. For some patrons, that authenticity is exactly what made it irreplaceable.
Though the doors will close at the end of March, Turner says the spirit of The Little Club may not disappear entirely if a new home can be found somewhere nearby. For now, however, locals are savoring their final visits to a place that, for many, felt less like a bar and more like a second living room.
The Little Club is located at 132 Orange Avenue in San Diego's Coronado.
Michelle Armas | March 7, 2026 | The Coronado News
EDITOR'S NOTE: Michelle Armas of The Coronado News also wrote "The final days of The Little Club . . . and a fading Americana."
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