A New Way to Keep Cool (Part 2)

Yeah, April Fools!  No, there is no pool on the patio.  But that was probably fairly obvious with my Mad Photoshop Skillz™.  But, check out what you may have missed in the blog post itself:

• Did you wonder why the post was so long and awkwardly written?  Check the first word of every line.
• Althougth Ricka is a real name, it's very uncommon.  And it's usually a girl's name anyway.  Anyway, take the spaces and punctuation out of the cabana boy's name and you get::  Ricka St. Ley = Rickastley = Rick Astley
• Did you get a feeling that you'd seen some of the phrases before?  You have.  There were several 80's song titles worked into the post.  They're high-lighted below.
• Oh, and one final little bit of embedded-ness (is that a word?):  You, too = U2 = Group who sings "With or Without You" = one of the song titles worked in.

Happy April First!  (Well, now, April 2nd...)

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Never before in Fresno has such a thing been even attempted and you're
gonna be amazed. Fresno has been really, really kind to us and we want to
give something back. Last night, we have installed a swimming pool to help
you stay cool in the coming heat of summer. We tried hard and stayed
up all night last night putting the finishing touches on the patio and we've
never seen such a dedicated group of people. Turn 'em loose and they're
gonna tear up the town, I'm sure!

 

Let your eyes wander across this picture. See the palm plants placed to shade
you in the glaring heat of summer. Imagine yourself cooling off as you glide
down the stairs into the pool. Be sure to read the signs telling you what you should
never do.  Unfortunately, the City is very particular about what a pool owner is
gonna have to do to keep it open.  Especially in a bar.

 

Run! Play! Swim! You can do whatever you want to do in and all the way
around our pool! But, you'll have to be drinking your beer from plastic cups
and throw them away in the garbage cans by the pool. But, the bartender won't
desert you out there.

 

You can call the cabana boy over and have a drink brought to you. We've
never heard of cabana boys at Faces in Sacramento, but, be assured, we're
gonna have 'em for you here. Our new cabana boy, Ricka St. Ley, will
make the trek into the bar, place your drink order with the bartender and bring
you your drink. Complete with a little paper umbrella. So, please don't
cry with joy. We think, no, we're absolutely, one-hundred percent sure, you'll
never see a pool in the patio at any other bar in Fresno. We think it just ain't
gonna happen.

 

Say hello to relaxing evenings by the pool with all of your (and our) friends and
goodbye to nights at home watching re-runs of 80's video video shows.  You'll
never have to do that again so you can give it up. What's more, we think we're
gonna have shimmering blue lights and dancing bartenders for you, too!
Tell ya what else on Friday nights, we'll have videos and have Rick roll you out
a cocktail or two while you wait for your friends to show up.  There's no need to
lie; just tell 'em, "I'll be there with or without you."

 

And, time after time, you, too, can jump into the pool.  (But no diving; you'll
hurt yourself.)  Please leave all glass out of the pool area.  We are doing this for
you, our customers.  Enjoy the pool!

A New Way to Keep Cool

Never before in Fresno has such a thing been even attempted and you're
gonna be amazed. Fresno has been really, really kind to us and we want to
give something back. Last night, we have installed a swimming pool to help
you stay cool in the coming heat of summer. We tried hard and stayed
up all night last night putting the finishing touches on the patio and we've
never seen such a dedicated group of people. Turn 'em loose and they're
gonna tear up the town, I'm sure!

Let your eyes wander across this picture. See the palm plants placed to shade
you in the glaring heat of summer. Imagine yourself cooling off as you glide
down the stairs into the pool. Be sure to read the signs telling you what you should
never do.  Unforutnately, the City is very particular about what a pool owner is
gonna have to do to keep it open.  Especially in a bar.


Run! Play! Swim! You can do whatever you want to do in and all the way
around our pool! But, you'll have to be drinking your beer from plastic cups
and throw them away in the garbage cans by the pool. But, the bartender won't
desert you out there.

You can call the cabana boy over and have a drink brought to you. We've
never heard of cabana boys at Faces in Sacramento, but, be assured, we're
gonna have 'em for you here. Our new cabana boy, Ricka St. Ley, will
make the trek into the bar, place your drink order with the bartender and bring
you your drink. Complete with a little paper umbrella. So, please don't
cry with joy. We think, no, we're absolutely, one-hundred percent sure, you'll
never see a pool in the patio at any other bar in Fresno. We think it just ain't
gonna happen.

Say hello to relaxing evenings by the pool with all of your (and our) friends and
goodbye to nights at home watching re-runs of 80's video video shows.  You'll
never have to do that again so you can give it up. What's more, we think we're
gonna have shimmering blue lights and dancing bartenders for you, too!
Tell ya what else on Friday nights, we'll have videos and have Rick roll you out
a cocktail or two while you wait for your friends to show up.  There's no need to
lie; just tell 'em, "I'll be there with or without you."

And, time after time, you, too, can jump into the pool.  (But no diving; you'll
hurt yourself).  Please leave all glass out of the pool area.  We are doing this for
you, our customers.  Enjoy the pool!

After The Lighting Changes

Well, I figured out how to take a reasonable picture of the bar to show the difference in the lighting I mentioned in the previous posting.

Before



After

 The pictures are taken with nearly the same camera settings.  The only difference is the shutter speed for the "after" was 0.8 seconds vs. 0.6 seconds for the "before".  And, to be fair, the "Before" picture was taken with all the lights on at full brightness.  It's somewhat misleading on how bright it was.  But it was still pretty damn bright.

Giant Silver Octopus

The bar was recently attacked by a giant silver octopus missing half of its legs.

HELP! We're being attacked!

A Roof With a View

Remarkably exciting picture of the parking lot and dumpster from the roof.  This is the first time this view has been posted on the internet and has previously only been seen by taggers and various tradesmen.

Enjoy!

Evolution of Karl

Just a silly picture of Karl at the bar while we were getting our roof installed.

The Way It Should Be

We have a roof.

We spent all day yesterday at the bar with the roofers.  And, despite having to provide our own generator for them (for which we nicknamed the roofer "Blanche DuBois") the work was done and completed exactly as we expected to be.  THIS is how hiring a contractor should be.  Why couldn't Demo Guy have done the same?

Finally, aside from paint, the outside of the bar won't change very much from here on out.  (Well, that you can see from the street anyway.)

Here are several progress pictures taken throughout the day.

Fiberglass Filled Fortifications

The City of Fresno requested (Ok, required) us to install insulation in the fire-damaged wall.  We wanted to do it anyway to help reduce utility costs so it's not a big issue.  First off, we had to rip off the old interior drywall.

Karl's been climbing the walls lately.

Both Karl and I are bemused by the rather strange pattern of studs and related bits.  But, as I mentioned earlier, the "framing" does lend credence to the belief that the bar used to be some kind of housing.  Regardless, here is the wall newly fortified with fiberglass.

Yes, the cutting of the insulation gave Karl Blisters.

Workin' on the Fence Line

We've begun the final work on putting in the rest of the replacement fence.  Last week, we got the materials to complete the fence.

Karl has wood

I should probably help with the concrete rather than just taking pictures...

Here's what it looked like before we started doing anything.

(Someone really oughta paint this place.)

Then, on Monday this week (after our visit to City Hall), we dug the post holes and set the posts.

Dig, Bryan! DIG!!!

What?  I'm diggin' here!

Karl beginning the Anvil Chorus.

No, he didn't miss.  This was after he hit the metal thing with the other metal thing.

The pickets will be nailed up soon. The concrete hasn't quite set well enough just yet.

Were We Raised in a Barn?

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 agricultural 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 credence 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.)

The New Ceiling

If you've been following this delightful process of opening a bar, you'll know that way back in December we posted some really bad renderings of the new ceiling.  Much concern was expressed by many people about the ceiling.  And, finally, we can see how well my crappy renderings match up with reality.

Behold!  THE NEW CEILING!!!!  MARVEL in its loftiness! REJOICE in its completeness!

Well, it doesn't really do justice to the sheer impact of having the higher ceiling.  I tell ya, I absolutely love and am thrilled with the way it looks.

Obviously, we still have a lot of work to do on the ceiling itself.  For starters, it needs to be a ceiling and not open trusses like that.  (Which was our original idea; we like the look of the open trusses.  We kinda wanted a "light construction" theme for the bar.  Like it wasn't quite finished.  Like you were walking into a construction site.  But that was going to be expensive for various reasons.)

So, there ya go.  Now on to the next bit of stress.  The interior construction work.  (When do I get a vacation, anyway?)

Spray-On "Hate"

This was the first thing I saw when I got to the bar yesterday afternoon.  I'm not exactly sure what to do about it and, believe it or not, this is not the worst of what happened.  (Pictures of that will have to come later for reasons that will be explained at that time.)

My inclination is to just shrug it off and paint over it.  But then I wonder if the fact it's a gay bar (or will be) elevates this to something more than just vandalism.  Should I contact the police?  Will the police care?  Will the grafitti abatement team care a little more than the cops?

All that being said, what happened yesterday, while not pleasant, could have been much, much worse, trust me. (Again, that'll be explained later.  I'm sorry for being so cagey but I think you'll agree my reasons for being cagey now will be apparent later.)

Wide Open Space

(Ok, not so wide and open, I guess.)

Got the stuff we don't want in the bar during construction out of the bar.  Demolition of the roof can begin whenever they're ready to start.  (Whenever that turns out to be....)

Here's a blurry panorama of the bar ready for work.  Wave hello to Karl at the window.

Reflections Upon a Successful but Surprising Electrical Plan Back Check on the Day of Saint Patrick

I'm not a contractor. I've never dealt with The City of Fresno from the perspective of a developer. I've never even carted so many large sheets of paper around. So the entire process of getting this building permit is, shall we say, "different" from everything else I've experienced. (And I'm told that even in the world of plan checks the Fresno ones are an anomaly for being so plodding.)

Anyway, I get to the Development department receptionist ("Hi, Joyce!") not really knowing what to expect. I don't know if I need to resubmit the electrical plans or what. I figured it was going to be a resubmission and having to deal with the front desk again. I had questions prepared about the parking situation and related things. I didn't even know what to ask of or say to Joyce. She and I talk for a bit about what I'm actually doing and she says I needed to have made a "back check" appointment. I thought to myself, "Oops" and figured I'd just go ahead and make the appointment while standing there and have to come back. No real problem. (I have learned a higher level of patience through all of this.)

But, Joyce called the guy who I would have to do the back check with and asks if he can come up for a back check. And he can and does.

So I take this huge bundle of plans into the "back check room" and meet with the guy.

Five minutes or so later, I walk out with stamped and approved electrical plans.

For a few short seconds with the guy, I thought I might be getting a building permit, too! But, I still have to wait for the Health Department's approval. Again, no big deal. (They are supposed to be done by Monday, March 21, 2011.) Even if it were later than the 21st they were supposed to be done, what's a few more days at this point, eh?

So, that's where we are now. I'll have to get in touch with the nice folks at the Health Department to find out what's going on some time today.

Color Test, Part 2

It seems my hints have been not obvious enough.  Maybe a few different shapes would help.

Can you figure out where we took these colors from?  And where you may have seen them before?

Great! Grafiti, Batman.

I'm so proud!  Our front door has finally grown up and has been welcomed to the community!

It was graffiti'd and before I thought to take a picture of the awesome work (which was one of the things that was marker'd onto the door) I covered it with paint.  We knew the nice clean slate of the front door would be irresistable to thugs and hoodlums with markers and spray paint so this isn't a big surprise.  But I think we have a color for our front door now.

Baby Steps

A guy was supposed to meet me at 3 in the afternoon at the bar to replace my truck's windshield.  (It had been broken for close to 10 years, I think).  Just before three, he called to say he was running late and would be at the bar in about 45 minutes.  He didn't show up until quarter after four.  Yay. 

So while I waited for him to get there and while he was working on the truck I spent some time kinda cleaning up the place.

We wanted to save the drink hangers over the bar and not have them end up with the rest of the roof.  In removing them it turns out that the easiest thing to do was to remove the wood panels and scalloped trim and the associated wires and other....stuff....that was up there.  This is what it looks like after all that was removed.  (Pictures from my crappy cell phone camera.)

I really don't think the tiny bits of work that gets done on days like yesterday really make that much of a difference.  But at least it makes me feel like something is getting done while not actually doing anything.

Color Test

Karl thought it would be interesting to see who could come up with the answer to this question.

These are among the chosen colors for The Phoenix.  Can you identify what they all have in common?

Karl Dumps on Art

Karl occasionally gets all artsy and stuff.  This is a picture he took while I was tearing out part of the old burned out fence.

Ok, in reality, I think this was trying to show the fire damage to the fence and wasn't intended to be art at all.  But there it is.

Don't Fence Me In

No, actually, go ahead and fence me in.

I mentioned earlier the world's tiniest homeless encampment behind the bar and that we were going to put in a fence to help them move on with their lives. This is what the "fence" looked like before Karl and David started working.

Lovely, ain't it.

And here is after.

Karl loves the fence.

Cheesy pictures aside, the fence has already had the desired effect.  The patio has not been touched since the fence went up.  In my mind, this was money well spent.

(And don't worry, the fence is not complete.  We need to leave the side of the building accessible to the demolition crew for the dumpster.  The rest of the fence (down the side of the building) will be constructed after the roof work is complete.)