23 Comments
User's avatar
Robert Simonson's avatar

That was a lovely afternoon. And that Matador cocktail was excellent.

Expand full comment
Jesse Casey's avatar

You're welcome back whenever you're in town!

Expand full comment
Mary Kate Murray's avatar

Thanks again, Jesse! Amazing space. (And pizza and cocktails!)

Expand full comment
Robert Simonson's avatar

I can’t wait to start working on our home basement bar!

Expand full comment
Mary Kate Murray's avatar

Me too! I have tons of ideas! 💡 🍸👻🎉

Expand full comment
Mitch Kushinsky's avatar

Jesse, it was a pleasure meeting you in New Brunswick.

Does having 75 bottles crammed into a 1000 sq. ft nyc apartment count as a home bar?

Expand full comment
Robert Simonson's avatar

Haha! Maybe.

Expand full comment
Mary Kate Murray's avatar

Sounds pretty good! 😂

Expand full comment
Warren Johnston's avatar

Love this!! Sign me up for hosting the Canadian tour!

Expand full comment
Mary Kate Murray's avatar

We love CANADA! 🍁 We are in!!

Expand full comment
Eric Simonson's avatar

A California basement is the size of a closet, big enough to hold a water heater. We don't have many basements in California. Someday you should do a feature on Vince Lombardi's basement bar. It was legendary.

Expand full comment
Robert Simonson's avatar

Interesting. I had no idea. I did known there are no basements in Louisiana, because if you dig under a house, you immediately hit water.

Expand full comment
Philip Crimmins's avatar

These home bars are amazing! I remember that my aunt and uncle in Lexington, MA, had one on the ground floor of their house. The last time we visited, so many years ago, I was old enough to make a martini in that bar. I felt that I had arrived.

Expand full comment
Mary Kate Murray's avatar

I love this. Maybe you’ll run across an old photo. I’ve gotten crazy about seeing these bars. 🍸 They were all so personal.

Expand full comment
Philip Crimmins's avatar

There should be a photo around somewhere but it was not a fancy bar at all. It was just the only home bar I had access to! :-) All this has me thinking about what my future home bar might look like. It would at least have to have a sink and faucet. Doesn't that make it a "wet bar?"

Expand full comment
Mary Kate Murray's avatar

Yes!

Expand full comment
Eric Simonson's avatar

Awesome article, guys! Makes me wish I had more than a California basement.

Expand full comment
Robert Simonson's avatar

You living room is perfectly shaped for a corner home bar.

Expand full comment
Mary Kate Murray's avatar

What’s a California basement?

Expand full comment
Robert Simonson's avatar

Yes, what? Is it small?

Expand full comment
The Ginhound's avatar

When I arrived in Lynnwood, WA in the summer of 1977 from the suburbs of Copenhagen Denmark I was very intrigued about the layout of my wonderful host family house. Especially the basement rec-room with the tv, the piano and a place for sewing. It was the place we spent all our evenings never the living room.

I had never seen any thing like it in Denmark. Most houses were/is a lot smaller than in the US but even the ones with a basement rarely used them for other than storage and laundry. Now I know a little of the history of those mid-century house.

Only wish my host parents hadn't been teetotalers- maybe my cocktail interest would have started sooner if they had a home bar.

Expand full comment
Robert Simonson's avatar

It is perhaps a uniquely American idea, the rec room.

Expand full comment
Mary Kate Murray's avatar

That was a fun time in home bars! I would have liked to see the cocktails they made then! 😂

Expand full comment