Earlier today, Facebook reminded me that I launched this blog exactly 3 years ago. THREE YEARS! And yet there still is no "bar at The Bailey". So what happened? Did something go wrong? Is this even happening still? If so, when? I don't have a lot of satisfying answers, but I do think I'll take this weird anniversary as an opportunity to be transparent about the state of this project.

First of all, it's important to point out that, for a while, briefly, there was a bar at The Bailey. Perrenoud's Cocktail Bar opened in October 2022 and held Friday/Saturday services most weekends until March 2023 when I pulled the plug on what had felt like a perpetual "soft opening" that wasn't actually getting any closer to a grand opening. The idea was that we'd put the finishing touches on all the little details while were open and learning; the reality is we were a very long way from a final product. And worse, with every service we were teaching our guests that this is who we are, what we wanted to be, developing a reputation and identity but without many of the most important pieces in place.

I need to be clear that I'm not throwing any of our staff under the bus. I take full accountability for not providing a complete vision, definitive leadership, the right tools and deliverables, and a personal presence to help make this first foray more successful. And genuinely, I'm not even suggesting that Perrenoud's was bad. Our drinks were top-notch, clever and delicious. The physical space was beautiful. Our service was fast and professional. Many people liked it. Some loved it.

It just wasn't what I'd set out to create. It wasn't the vibe I had wanted to bring to Humboldt. And we weren't creating the kinds of experiences and memories that I wanted to people to share. Turns out, those kinds of fundamental details of identity are not something you can just tweak into existence during a soft opening.

So here I am, 9 months later, and still trying to figure it all out for our proper, long-term opening. While there are still a ton of unanswered questions, I'm renewed and reinvigorated by the opportunity a bar at The Bailey represents and I geniuinely feel closer than ever at answering those questions I posed back in my "On Making Decisions" post about what this bar needs to be. Perhaps I'll try to articulate those insights in another post, soon.

For now, while we're merely taking stock of our current situation, I'll submit this to-do list, an accounting of the biggest things that will need to be figured out before we open our doors again:

• Hire a bar manager. While I recognize that I'll need to be much more present in gatekeeping the details, I'm not likely to be the bartender or bar manager. (If you may be interested, please reach out.)
• Finish the buildout. There are little details (and big ones!) that will make a huge impact on how it feels to be in the bar, and I'll need to wrap those up before we open. The bright kitchen cannot feel so present; the airy front room cannot steal a sense of intimacy; art will soon provide the place a new life.
• Tighten up our identity, aligning the branding, culture, service, music, menu and more with a well-articulated description of the bar's soul. This has always been my biggest challenge, but I've never felt closer.
• An accessible entrance. The current east entrance is dangerously awkward. A forthcoming sidewalk makeover should take care of that.
• An ambitious program. A bar like this is a foreign experience, and so we'll have to create an engaging, active, and safe program of opportunities for people to test the waters.

Easy peasy.

More soon.