Hermosa Beach shark swims into the sunset
Shane McColgan leans on a pool cue in the last days of Sharks Cove. Photo
On the door of Sharks Cove, a sign read, “Steelers fans parking. All others will be crushed.”
Inside, the sports bar atmosphere was even more intense. Sixty TVs lined the walls along with posters of athletes and framed jerseys of Flannery, Blake, and Bettis. Billiard tables, pool tables and dart boards stood interspersed between tables and booths, with the bar lining one long wall.
In an interview just weeks before the bar’s closure, proprietor Shane McColgan said he hatched the idea of Sharks Cove back in 1992.
“That’s when I first came upon this space,” he said. “I always wanted to own a sports bar and every day I would walk by here, and I thought, that would be a great place.”
The bar opened in 1994 and soon became a hot spot for Pittsburgh Steelers fans from across theSouthBay.
“I was always a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan, from the age of 12,” McColgan said.
He first saw them play when he was just a kid living inNew England. They played the Patriots that day, and the Steelers – cool black-and-gold uniforms, cool team – won.
Over the years Sharks Cove drew loyal regulars, and its own traditions such as the “Friday 4 O’clock Club,” anchored by McColgan’s father John “Mickey” McColgan, who would sit in the narrow front patio for a weekly beer and chat.
“This place was kind of like the Cheers bar of Hermosa Beach,” McColgan said.
“The day-to-day operations just became a part of my life. This is where I raised my family. I want to stay here, I don’t want to go anywhere else,” he said.
“People have gotten to know me over the years as a business owner. I’ve made a lot of friends,” said McColgan, “we’ve developed somewhat of a legacy here and I’m going to miss this place.”