Dave Hodges, Belly Up co-founder, dies at age 79

It was the early 1970s, and University of San Diego accounting graduate Dave Hodges was looking for a place in Solana Beach to relax with friends at the end of the workday. He and his business partner searched for months before they saw potential in a waterbed warehouse and showroom that had gone belly up.

With $10,000, Mr. Hodges and Greg Gilholm transformed a Quonset hut, with a distinctive semi-cylinder design, just east of the railroad tracks into their ideal neighborhood bar. The Belly Up Tavern opened in September 1974, and in the beginning, the space was simple: pool and ping pong tables, games and pinball, beer and wine, music with no cover charge.

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