History of Masters Kitchen and Cocktail
Built in 1938, the classic, historic building was originally Masters Automotive and Machine Shop. At the time it was the only auto parts store in north county San Diego.
In the 1950’s, the machine shop partnered with a drag shop to become Drag Masters Auto. In fact, there are currently 3 original Masters Drag cars in NHRA museum in Pomona.
The Jubela family purchased the building in the 1970’s, and housed an automotive/parts store, corporate office and warehouse from the space. Even up until 2014, it was an automotive business.
Inspiration for Masters Kitchen and Cocktail
Masters Automotive and Machine Shop was purchased by the Jubela Family in the 1970’s. The family has been long time, committed residents of Oceanside. The second son of patriarch Jubela, Ryan, always dreamed of opening a beautiful, family-owned restaurant for the community of Oceanside. Committed to the vision of his future project, Ryan spent 10 years working in restaurants as pastry chef and learning the ins and outs of restaurant life to prepare. In 2013, Ryan took the first leap into life as a restaurateur and work began on renovating the old auto drag shop into an exquisite eatery with elegance and charm, blocks from the coast.
A true family enterprise, Ryan’s brother Adam, an architect, worked with him to design and build out the industrial space into the handsome restaurant known today. The two hand-built many custom features and fixtures in the space seen today, such as the “Edison light bulb chandeliers”, the tables, the pendant lights, the hostess table and the servers stations, etc. In design, the brothers made an effort to keep as much of the original building as possible; keeping the shell of the building, the original infrastructure, floors and textures of brick and reclaimed wood.The design of the interior beautifully melds old with new, while vibrant green plants and fresh skylights brighten up the masculine space.
As to the inspiration of the restaurant’s name, Ryan says, “the building has always been named “Masters” and I felt it should stay that way. It pays homage to guys who worked for years and years in the building, and it contributes to the history of Oceanside.”
To this day, old timers still stop in from time to time and say they remember spending many hours and days as teenagers working there. Now they happily come in to take a look around, have a beer and reminisce about the old days.