After local bar THE DEN was forced close last year due to a devastating fire, plans immediately started to take shape to re-open the historic location with new owners and new name, which is aptly, The Phoenix. Bryan Beckstrand, one of the new owners, keeps the community up on progress through their blog as well as their status page. Here are the latest developments…
Over the weekend, we got the siding put up.
First, the old falling away, burned stucco was removed:
The going theory is (I haven’t bothered to verify for certain) the bar used to be some sort of housing for agriculultural employees back when it was built. We believe it was built in the 1950’s. The somewhat bizarre door-shaped and window-shaped framing lends creedence to that theory so we’ll go with it.
And, now the siding:
This isn’t quite what we expected even though it matches exactly what our engineered plans show. We thought it would be vertical rather than horizontal. We’re not complaining — the siding is a lot more secure than the plain wallboard you see in the “Before” picture — but it really does make the bar look like a barn. A bright, sunshine yellow barn.
Next on the list: Buy paint that isn’t bright, sunshine yellow.
(The grey paint on the door is covering even more graffiti. It was just a tag and nothing like the graffiti that brought ABC 30 out earlier.)
Bryan Beckstrand
