Erick Castro and the Quest to Preserve the Neighborhood Bar

In the San Diego drinks scene, Erick Castro has long been known for his lavish-leaning cocktail programs at bars that could fairly be described as opulent. The apothecary-inspired Polite Provisions was a pioneer of the city’s craft cocktail scene when it opened more than a decade ago. And Raised by Wolves brought new levels of high-concept mixology and extravagant design into the national spotlight. In fact, we named Raised by Wolves our “Cocktail Bar of the Year” in 2019’s Imbibe 75—a year before the hospitality industry as a whole faced a global shift.

Now, in a post-pandemic bar scene that is still working to find the most sustainable routes to forge ahead, Castro once again appears in the pages of our 2025 Imbibe 75 issue, albeit for a very different type of project. “When I left Polite Provisions, I was looking for something else in the area. But I didn’t want to do the same thing,” says Castro. “I didn’t want to do another opulent, beautiful, over-the-top bar.” What he found was Gilly’s, a North Park spot that has been operating as a bar in one capacity or another since the 1960s.

Keeping the Regulars Happy

“I had been a regular there, and I always thought it was a cool spot,” Castro says. When he got word Gilly’s was up for sale, he leapt on it. And while the community’s reception to a craft cocktail bartender scooping up a neighborhood dive was not exactly warm at first (Castro received no small amount of online harassment), he had something different in mind for the space—or rather, nothing in mind. “I didn’t think it needed to change,” says Castro.

To be fair, Castro made some changes. He ripped out the old, perpetually aromatic carpeting and fixed up the bathrooms. Gone were the arcade games that no one ever played, while more banquette seating was added. But the pool tables remained—an important setting for socialization. He even upgraded the bar’s cable sports package and bought bigger and better TVs, a facet often frowned upon by the cocktail bar elite. But Castro was more concerned with operating the kind of bar the community wanted to frequent. “We kept a lot of the old regulars who have been coming in for 15 or 20 years,” he notes. “If the clientele doesn’t look like the neighborhood, it’s a red flag for me.”

Preserving the Third Place

Now dubbed Gilly’s House of Cocktails, the bar serves a larger purpose, in Castro’s mind. “There’s an evaporation of third places here in the U.S. and I think that’s largely by design, which is a shame,” he says, referencing the societal concept of the “Third Place” coined by Ray Oldenburg in his 1989 book The Great Good Place. The gist is that we all need spaces, beyond home and the workplace, to socialize and simply exist within our community. “People need to go out and be social again,” says Castro. “They want to interact with each other and find spontaneous engagement. I’ve always been inspired by the concept of parallel play.”

For his part, Castro was adamant about keeping the drink prices low. “I wanted to create a place that people could pop into two or three times a week, not once every two or three months.” That means nothing on the cocktail menu surpasses $12, with generous happy hour pours for eight bucks. But because it’s still Erick Castro, expect those cocktails to include thoughtful originals like the French Riviera (mezcal, tequila, tamarind, lime, amaro, orgeat) and playful riffs like a clarified Adios Motherfucker served on draft. “I wanted to keep a casual environment but still over-deliver with the cocktails,” explains Castro. “We’re not beating you over the head with the process. But they’re executed at the highest caliber.”

On this point, Castro is not alone. The bar industry has seen a resurgence, even within the past year alone, of the rehabilitated dive—bars aiming for well-made drinks at fair prices, all within a casual, welcoming atmosphere. In Los Angeles, Eric Alperin (formerly of The Varnish) took over Johnny’s where none of the cocktails break $15. While in New Orleans, veteran bartender and Imbibe 75’s Nicholas Jarrett opened Holy Diver, complete with jukebox, graffitied walls, and a carefully calibrated house Martini. In Chicago, beverage director Kevin Beary (Three Dots and a Dash) is opening Gus’ Sip and Dip with a menu of elevated classics all priced at $12. It’s a trend that mirrors the recent uptick in revamped diners. Perhaps all we really want is a patty melt, or a Coors Banquet, or a well-made drink that we don’t have to think too hard about.

Building Investment

Gilly’s also marks the first project for Castro as the primary investor. But in keeping with the community mindset (or, as he calls it, “the leftist rebel in me”), Castro opted for an employee-owned model. “I firmly believe that places operate best financially and culturally when the staff has the opportunity to have ownership of the space that they are co-creating,” he says. “I decided to offer up some shares of the bar for our staff to purchase at a discounted rate. Less than two months later, we are happy to report that we are now a staff-owned bar with seven members of our team being equity partners.”

In an environment where the cost of everything has been leading the discussion, operating a price-conscious establishment is certainly a savvy business decision. But beyond affordability, a neighborhood bar ultimately finds its footing when it resonates with—and thus reflects—its own community.

“One thing I’m really proud of is, when the place is packed, you can look around and no one is on their phone. You see strangers interacting with each other,” says Castro. “That’s something that’s missing right now in American society … We need to feel like we belong somewhere. It’s important for people to shoot a game of pool with a stranger.”