The Marlin Club from “Bring It On”

A few weeks ago, my parents, my fiance, and I went down to San Diego for a few days for a short little summer vacay.  When I told fellow stalker Owen where I was headed, he set out on a mission to find pretty much every single location used in 2000’s Bring It On, a teen comedy which was filmed in its entirety in the beachside city.  Well, imagine my disappointment when I received an email from Owen listing ALL of the Bring It On  locations – including the two main houses featured in the movie! – a few days later while in the car on the way home from that trip!  Being that we were already outside the city limits by the time I read his email, and being that my parents outright refused to turn the car around (I know, the nerve!), there was no way I would be able stalk the Bring It On  locales that day.  Needless to say, I could NOT have been more disappointed!!!   🙁  The only silver lining to the whole situation was the fact that since I find myself in the San Diego area at least once a month, I knew I would be able to stalk the locations in the very near future.  So, last week, when my parents announced that they would be traveling to San Diego for a few days, I just about had a heart attack and told them that, like it or not, I would be joining them on their trip.  🙂  So, bright and early Friday morning, I headed down to sunny San Diego.  The first item on my Bring It On stalking agenda?  The Shelter Island Marlin Club, where the brief, but memorable bikini car wash scene took place.  🙂

In Bring It On, the Rancho Carne Toros Cheeleading Team decides to host a massive car wash event at the Marlin Club in order to raise money to hire a professional choreographer who will hopefully give them the leg up at their upcoming regional competition.  To attract potential car wash clients, the team, which includes cheerleaders Kirsten Dunst and Eliza Dushku, conducts the entire event in their bathing suits, which is perhaps why this particular scene has become the most well-known out of the entire movie.  Well, amongst males anyway.  My personal favorite scene is, of course, Jesse Bradford and Kirsten Dunst’s toothbrushing scene, which has got to be one of the best movie scenes of all time!!!  So, darn cute!  🙂  And if you don’t happen to know the scene of which I am speaking, obviously you have yet to see Bring It On, in which case you must go out and rent it RIGHT NOW!  🙂  But, I digress. 

In actuality, the Marlin Club is not a car wash at all, but a fishing club and free, certified fish weighing station located on a tiny peninsula in San Diego known as Shelter Island.  The Club, which was started on September 15, 1931, is open year-round for local and visiting fisherman who want to get their recent catches weighed for free.  In 1952, the Marlin Club built their clubhouse, which can be seen in the background of the above screen capture and photograph.  And in 1958, the Club became incorporated as a non-profit organization.  The Marlin Club now boasts several hundred members, each paying annual dues which go to help support the free weighings provided to the public.  According to their website, they invite any and all fishing enthusiasts to “drop in and share a fish story” anytime.

Ironically enough, a Marlin can even be seen hanging in the background of the car wash scene in Bring It On, although the camera moved far too fast for me to get a good screen capture of it. 

Because the Marlin Club is, in essence, a large parking lot with a gorgeous view, it’s not very hard to see why producers chose to use it for the Bring It On  car wash scene.  And I am very happy to report that the Club still looks pretty much identical to how it appeared onscreen almost a full decade ago.  And, even though, it’s really “just” a parking lot, it is still very easily recognizable from the movie.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The Marlin Club from Bring It On  can be found at 2445 Shelter Island Drive on Shelter Island, which is located just outside of Point Loma, in San Diego.  You can visit the Marlin Club’s website here.