Mission Beach: If you don't live here, surely one of your friends does. And surely you've experienced a few signature days of binge day drinking followed by late afternoons asleep on the sand.

You know the scene: run-down apartments inhabited by college students, ex college students, and that guy who's been around for the last ten years who (still) rides his bike up and down the boardwalk every day with that silly bandana. And then there's Belmont Park and its famous old Coaster and the neighboring string of bars along Ventura Avenue.

These Mission Beach bars are known to attract a crowd of all types; underage kids on skateboards, rowdy sorority girls, weathered men and women just off their bikes clad in leather jackets and crowded around the pool tables. For the past few years it's all be pretty predictable. But here's one thing you don't know: the former reigning dive bar, Coaster Saloon, has cleaned up its bad boy ways.

Formerly branded by the American Flag paint job out front, the Coaster Saloon is now hardly recognizable with its clean olive green appearance and pristine sign that proudly represents the new frontier. The Coaster's kitchen fire of 2007 ignited the inevitable change from the Coaster Saloon as dive bar to modern sports bar.

Walk into the Coaster Saloon this spring and you'll hardly find any remains of what was once a hole in the wall dive filled of Mission Beach locals. The improved Saloon now sports a smooth concrete bar in the center of the venue, rather than up against the west wall, creating easier access and a more spacious place to enjoy over 20 different beers now on tap. Patrons can also expect their favorite sporting events on several plasmas posted up around the bar.

Sorry to all the pool fans out there, but the Coaster Saloon has rid the joint of all tables to make room on the patio for a larger and more modern DJ booth for live music and dancing. Though the patio will not be finished for another month, the Coaster plans to create an ambiance for all its original patrons, both locals and spring breakers, i.e. those who want to boogie down and those who simply want to hang around and enjoy a frosty pint.

For neighborhood locals who took comfort in Coaster's former kitchen, expect the Coaster's chicken fingers to make a comeback this summer, with an upgraded flair.

Insider Tip: Despite remodel, Coaster Saloon is open for business and will be changing it up by offering different drink specials each day of the week. So get in there and check it out before you get run over by the summertime Zonie overflow in Pacific Beach.