Top Gun’s famous San Diego landmark will soon be open to everyone (again)
Topics: Tom Cruise, California, Nostalgia, Travel
Carli Whitwell
Featured Image Credit: Handout
Topics: Tom Cruise, California, Nostalgia, Travel
The home of Tom Cruise’s Top Gun love interest is about to be turned into a gelato store.
The take-my-breath-away seaside cottage of Maverick’s girlfriend — and, ahem, flight instructor, Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood — has a new look.
Just in time for Top Gun’s 40th anniversary this year, the Oceanside, California, cottage is reopening as a gelato shop. An’s Gelato, an outpost of the beloved San Diego chain, will open its doors this summer.
The vibe, according to a representative from Point Public Relations, which represents Mission Pacific Beach Resort where the cottage-turned-sweet-shop is based, is 'a playful airport terminal-inspired experience'. Gelato flavours will be updated biweekly, she adds, in case you want to plan a return trip.
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According to the tourism organization Visit Oceanside, the Queen Anne-style cottage, which was originally known as the Graves house, dates all the way back to 1888. It was originally built as a vacation home for Dr Graves and his wife in the city about 90 minutes south of L.A. (give or take a traffic jam or two).
It changed hands multiple times over the years until it was purchased by Lynn and William Rego for $75,000 in 1975, according to Visit Oceanside.
They restored the cottage and painted it the now-famous pastel blue, which eventually caught the eye of Paramount Pictures execs. The production company rented it out for a soon-to-be-blockbuster starring a young Cruise as misunderstood hero Lt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell.
Only a few scenes take place there, but they are memorable ones: most notably, Maverick arrives egregiously late to his first dinner date with Charlie at the house after playing an epic game of beach volleyball alongside Val Kilmer's Ice.
While Cruise went on to international superstardom, including starring in 2022's Top Gun: Maverick and headlining the upcoming Top Gun 3, Kelly McGillis, who played Charlie, has largely retreated from the spotlight.
The little oceanfront property, however, remains a top tourist attraction. Since the movie, it’s been designated a historically protected property. In 2020, the house was moved from its original location to the aforementioned Mission Pacific Beach Resort, where, from 2022 to January 2026, it was the home to the bakery Pie Shop.
"We have loved being your neighborhood sweets shop inside the Iconic Graves House since 2022. We are excited about what this new chapter will bring to our little handmade pies and look forward to sharing more with you soon," the owners posted on its website.
An's Gelato is excited to pick up the gauntlet, according to one of its founders, Travis Bailey.
“This house is over 100 years old and we want to respect that, but we also want to juxtapose the outside with what’s inside in a way that people won’t expect,” he told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “I like it when people walk past our shops and they do a double-take. You can see them figuring it out.”