Celebrity Interview: Donal Logue

Donal Logue

Canadian-born actor Donal Logue has made a career out of playing the Everyman, whether it be a paunchy pickup artist in the indie comedy The Tao of Steve, a relatable dad on the TV series Grounded for Life or a slacker ex-cop on his latest show, FX’s clever crime drama Terriers, filmed largely in San Diego’s counterculture enclave of Ocean Beach. Of his role as an unlicensed investigator of small-time crime in a sleepy surf town, Logue says, “It was a character I could wear really easily.” And no wonder: Logue spent much of his youth running around these beaches. “I was part of that huge group of people that would make the exodus to San Diego in the summertime,” the El Centro-raised actor says. “I have some distinct memories of San Diego in the ‘70s. Thin Lizzy and Led Zeppelin on the stereo….” WHERE spoke with the California-raised actor to find out how he’s seen the city change since then and where to grab breakfast at the beach.

What was S.D. like in the ‘70s?
It was like the Bad News Bears. If you were like a freckly-faced redheaded dude with a skateboard with clay wheels, you weren’t getting too much respect.

Have you seen the city change?
The seed of San Diego is still there, but it became culturally more sophisticated. I used to get so much crap from people in El Cajon for [being from] El Centro, and then people from the beach areas looked down on people from El Cajon. It’s this complete absurd snobbiness that starts running eastward. Go all the way east to Manhattan and they look down on everyone.

Any favorite hangouts?
I have the biggest soft spot for Mission Beach, because I spent a lot of my youth there. I used to be a crazy distance runner, so we’d go to the beach and I would do three runs a day from the jetty to the pier, like 15 miles a day. Then in 1991 when I moved back from the East Coast, I had nothing. I was nowhere. I had graduated from Harvard, I had nowhere to live, I didn’t have any money. I was kind of a mess, and my sister told me to go down to Mission Beach and walk the beach and just think about life. I’ll never ever forget that. It was a big changing point in my life.

Grounded for Life is syndicated all over the world; what’s the most unexpected place you’ve been recognized?
At the border between Egypt and Israel, where my friend was getting hassled for a stamp on his passport. This soldier recognized me and we moved through.

How do you spend an ideal weekend off in San Diego?
I would try and make it a few miles running on the beach, and then grab breakfast. The Mission is the obvious choice, because it’s infamous and the people are very cool, but I like the Green Flash and World Famous as well, because we’ve been going there forever. I have a friend who works at SeaWorld—he runs the restaurant where the orcas swim—so I’d have to take my kids there; they love it. Then I would probably go to dinner somewhere up near Hillcrest. And the next day I would go to Balboa Park, to the science museum [Reuben H. Fleet Science Center] or the Zoo. I’d never spent time around downtown until working there, and it’s pretty amazing the way that came up, around the stadium [Petco Park]. Downtown was a nowhere zone in the ‘70s. No one lived downtown. It was quite a different vibe.

And now?
San Diego has a lot of interesting people, and topographically it’s one of the most beautiful places to have a city. You always forget how spectacular its setting is. And I’m Irish: I’m not a beach person. I don’t tan. But there’s something so beautiful about being right there on the ocean. It just kind of infuses everything.

San Diego Guide

The Mission Café 3795 Mission Blvd., Mission Beach, 858.488.9060/ World Famous 711 Pacific Beach Drive, Pacific Beach, 858.272.3100/ Green Flash 701 Thomas Ave., Pacific Beach, 858.270.7715 / SeaWorld 500 SeaWorld Drive, Mission Bay, 619.226.3819/ Hillcrest Fifth Ave. at University Ave. Balboa Park / House of Hospitality, 1549 El Prado # 1, 619.239.0512/ Reuben H. Fleet Science Center 1875 El Prado, Balboa Park, 619.238.1233 /San Diego Zoo 2920 Zoo Drive, Balboa Park, 619.231.1515/ Petco Park 100 Park Blvd., East Village, 619.795.5000