Coach’s Will Put You in the Game

Stan Anderson wanders through his Coach’s Sports Grill on a Saturday afternoon fine-tuning the menu. Not the food, the sports fare. Remote in hand, he zaps the 10 TVs (three of them big-screen) scattered throughout his Seal Beach establishment until there are four baseball games, three football games, a hockey game, an auto race and, of course, ESPN on display.

With its array of ever-present, ever-changing sports video, Coach’s is akin to another much larger and more famous sports bar: Legends, up the coast a few miles in Long Beach. But the resemblance ends with the electronics.

“People go to a place like (Legends) to meet people. They come here to be with friends, have a beer and watch their team,” said Anderson, 47.

Coach’s has been open seven years, but owner Anderson calls it Seal Beach’s “best kept secret,” tucked away as it is in a shopping center off Pacific Coast Highway, across the parking lot from a Pavilions supermarket.

Those who have discovered the bar (beer and wine only) and grill consider it home away from home.

“When my wife is out of town on a trip, and I don’t want to sit home and watch the dog, I come here,” said Dennis Pollman, owner of a Seal Beach insurance company. “They make you feel at home. This place makes you feel like you’re somebody.”

Other regulars come from as far away as Tustin and Whittier to gather with fellow expatriate sports fans and cheer their former home teams. One group of Chicago Bears fans, for example, huddles at Coach’s every Sunday during the season to catch their game fed in from one of Anderson’s four satellite dishes.

Others come to Coach’s for dart tournaments in the back room or just drop in while their clothes are drying at the laundry around the corner.

Coach’s community roots are proudly displayed on the relic-dense walls. Photos of Little League and city softball league teams from years past, some coached by Anderson, nestle among fading team jackets and banners from local high schools and colleges.

Coach’s offers full lunch and dinner menus of standard grill fare in generous portions, as well as Monday night spaghetti and kielbasa specials and a Sunday brunch during football season.

Coach’s Sports Grill, 1025 Pacific Coast Highway, Seal Beach. Open daily, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. (213) 431-5266.