Liquor License Transfer Complete!

There was no update yesterday since both Karl and I were running around Fresno doing things that needed to happen for the bar.

Most notably, bringing money to the escrow company so the liquor license transfer can be completed.  Which was done.  Earlier this morning, escrow closed and the liquor license is now offically ours.

WE CAN SELL DRINKS!  (Well, kinda.  We don't yet have a place that is licensed in which we can legally sell anything much less alcohol.)

Booze For Sale!

Well, not quite.

Over the weekend, I checked the ABC's website for the status of the liquor license transfer.  Turns out, it's in our name and is shown as "Active".  So, it's ours!  We can sell alcohol!  Now, if we only had a place to sell it in...

(Escrow hasn't quite closed on the transfer.  We're waiting on an official, written release of the transfer from the ABC to be sent to the escrow company.  With the license in our name and shown as "active" I don't know why that release wouldn't be arriving today.  If it didn't arrive over the weekend.)

Yep. Jinxed.

Yep.  I jinxed it yesterday.

Plans weren't submitted.  There was a bit of a, shall we say, scheduling issue.  Karl has left the house and is currently on his way to pick up plans, get confused, get things straighted out, get confuddled, get that straightened out and spend more money.

I'll either post an update later today or over the weekend.

Meanwhile, the liquor license transfer is about to be complete.  It should be ours by Tuesday of next week.  (Not that it'll do us much good at this point but it's good to have that nearly done.)

Phoenix Feathers Flying

Holy Flaming Bird on a Stick!

Lots of news came our way yesterday.  (Which is probably why there was no blog post yesterday.)

First off, we got a call to come to Fresno to sign escrow paperwork for the liquor license.  (The ABC (Alcoholic Beverage Control) and Escrow companies got into bed with each other and decided to make a racket out of buying and selling liquor licenses; you must use an escrow company.  I suppose that's okay; it does protect both parties from bad things.)  So, we did that.  There's one bit of paperwork the ABC is waiting for from the state and then it should be all good.  It could be transferred as early as next week.  But it's not going to be much good without a building to serve drinks in.

And that's the next bit of news.

Our plans have nearly been approved and our building permit is nearly issued.  And we're back to needing to have eletrical plans submitted before the building permit can be issued.  And, as best I understand, it's not even "real" plans that we need.  From what the engineering firm wrote it sounds like all we need to do is indicate with the appropriate symbols on the plans where the new outlets and switches will be.  That may add some to the cost of the electrical but I don't think it'll be too much.  And it's a lot better than having to provide an entirely new electrical plan.  (Our chosen electrician gave the ball-park estimate of about $3,500 for that.  YIKES!)

If all this works out right, we could be ready to start tearing off the roof next week!

.....right when it's supposed to start raining.  Oh, well....

(Realistically, we probably won't be ready to start with the roof for about two weeks even if we get the building permit next week.)

Posting Posted Post Prescribed Period

(Why am I so fond of alliteration?)

Well, it's been thirty days that the required "Notice of Pending Transfer" for the liquor license has been posted.  Actually, it's been more than 30 days now.  (Hence, "Post-30 days" in the title.)

We're only waiting for the ABC to clear the license and to hear back from the State Board of Equalization (The Sales Tax people) before we can close the license transfer and have it in our names.  Then, we can OPEN! YAY!

Now.  If we can only solve that tiny little problem of not having a roof for the bar, we'd be set...

This is one of the major Magical Hoops™ and we're about to jump clean through it.  Through this process the ABC has been remarkably helpful and friendly.  I highly recommend anybody who needs a liquor license deal with them and them alone.  ("....What's that?....  They have to go through the ABC? ...  Oh.  Well, I stand by my recommendation anyway.")

Notice the Posting?

Here's a lovely photograph of the liquor license transfer notice posting in the front window.  We've since taped up the corners so it actually looks "right".  I guess it's the only Christmas decoration we get for the bar this year.

All Your Fingerprintz Are Belong to Us

Part of the liquor license application is to get fingerprinted.  (I suppose to make sure I'm not John Gotti's long lost son or something.)  Got that done in lovely downtown Sanger yesterday.

Walked into the Sanger Police Department (once we found which poorly-marked building it was) and told the officer behind the tiny window of thick glass we were there for our LiveScan fingerprinting thingy.  He escorted us back through the break/training room (where several officers were just hanging out; I guess Sanger isn't all that crime-ridden), down a somewhat claustrophobic hallway, and to a heavy metal door.

When he opened the heavy metal door in that claustrophobic hallway, I saw the cinder block walls painted in a lovely shade of baby blue.  While the lovely shade of baby blue was, well, lovely, it didn't lend any sense of comfort and joy.

Through the heavy metal door and into the still-baby-blue concrete block room with the holding cell.  It was festive.  Ok, not really, but I'm trying to put a good face on it.  Suffice it to say I'm glad I haven't seen the holding cell from the other side of the locked cell door.

The officer did our fingerprint thingy and sent us on our way.  (If Karl has ever done something really awful he'd better have only done it with his left index finger; it's the only one that just didn't look complete.  Maybe he pointed in a threatening manner at President Bush.  Perhaps broken into the CIA with only his tongue and randomly punching numbers into a keypad.)

And with bringing that completed paperwork to the ABC in Fresno, all of our paperwork is done.  For the liquor license, anyway.

"Official Notice! No Salesman Will Call!"

As Bryan mentioned yesterday we posted the notice in the window. I am head over heels for this. This is one giant step in the right direction. I can't wait to open.

In other good news, we don't have to send letters to the entire neighborhood like I thought we would. For anyone who doesn't know, the letters have to be sent to anyone in a 500 foot radius of a new bar so they could comment (i.e. complain) to the ABC. (After all, The Den had that one neighbor who didn't seem to like karaoke and I didn't really want to hear from them.) I wanted to send what looked like junk mail. On the outside of the envelope I wanted to put "Official Notice" or "No Salesman Will Call". (Both are true by the way.) Even the Alcoholic Beverage Control people laughed when I told them what I wanted to do. But I don't need to send to anyone.

BTW anyone who goes by and looks will see what Bryan's and my middle names are. Yikes!

Liquor License Application In Early

I suppose not everything is delayed when starting a business with as much construction as we need to do.

Yesterday morning, the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (the A.B.C) called and wanted to know if we could come down and submit our application rather than on Thursday as originally scheduled.  Hell yeah, we can.

So, we piled into the car and drove to Fresno, wrote another large check, and got the application in.  We then posted the required notice at the bar where it must remain for 30 days.  Now, if everything worked out right, the earliest we could open would be January 21, 2011.  Clearly, that's not going to happen.  But it's nice to know that it could.