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Moore's shows signs of 'vision' moving forward
After four years of construction on all sides and 10 months without its iconic red, neon Moore's Bar sign, things are looking up both literally and figuratively for Greencastle's oldest bar.
With the sign hoisted back in place above the front door Wednesday morning, owners Jackie and Jay Hopkins are beginning to see the light at the end of the Stellar Grant project tunnel.
"I'm glad it's about over," Jackie Hopkins said as the Thursday lunch rush began to fill the bar at 17 S. Indiana St.
And what's about over is a four-year run in which the area in and around Moore's Bar has been impacted by such obstacles as the construction of Starbucks, the Washington Street fire, the Indiana Street streetscape project, the Vine Street streetscape project that severely hampered parking in the lot behind Moore's, and now the Tap House 24 construction work ongoing directly across the street.
Most of those developments restricted traffic and parking on Indiana and/or Vine streets, making both parking and access for Moore's patrons difficult at times. There were even times Moore's had to creatively position its dumpster just to get the trash collected.
"In the last four years," Hopkins said, "you had to really want to come here if you came here. So we feel if we could survive that, we can do family dining."
And that family dining idea has at least made it to the planning stages. The idea includes knocking out a hole in the south wall between the bar and the kitchen and annexing the property to the south. That's the future goal.
But it's the return of the distinctive red sign that flashes like a beacon of optimism for one of the oldest downtown businesses in Greencastle.
The Moore's Bar sign came down last October to facilitate work on the facade of the 1912 building, a project which has restored its original look after years of cover-up construction (not only the glossy red tile look, but a shake-style tile in the 1980s).
But it's the sign that's about as synonymous with Moore's Bar as the similarly red marquee sign is to Chicago's Wrigley Field.
During its hiatus, the Moore's sign got a bit of an overhaul but not a total restoration. That was by design, Jackie Hopkins assured.
"We had all the neon replaced and added neon down where its says 'good food,'" she explained.
Gasoline Alley, the sign shop at Speedway, also fixed the sign's rust spots but didn't mess with the faded areas that help provide its character and patina.
"We definitely didn't want it repainted," Hopkins stressed.
Meanwhile, the rest of the facade has been reworked extensively since the cover-up of years gone by. Those issues included distinctive masonry columns being sawed off to make the tile fronts fit. The artistry of Blakley's Restoration has reformed those columns and chiseled their design out by hand, Hopkins said.
Arched windows just above the main front window had been filled in with concrete at some point in the past. Those have been restored and topped by decorative black awnings that date back to the original look of the building, Hopkins said.
"The building first started out as a music store," she said, adding that someone from DePauw University provided old photos of the facility in that era to help with the restoration.
Meanwhile, some stacked stone will still be added out front and the lights on the Moore's facade aren't quite right and are awaiting new hardware. Add in some carpeting in the entryway and the project will be soon done.
"Our colors turned out nice," Hopkins said of the exterior. "We went back and forth on that for a while. We wanted that classic look."
Meanwhile, the family dining project would provide seating for 42 more guests while expanding the kitchen by three times its current size.
The Hopkinses are working with adjacent building owner Lee Tenzer, a DePauw Board of Trustees member who has purchased several available properties in the Indiana Street corridor. One of those will become an ice cream parlor, while another will be the new home of Lynda Dunbar's Completely Nuts and Candy Co.
So the family dining idea seems like a natural fit with those businesses as downtown owners work to make Greencastle a dining destination.
"That's our vision," Hopkins said, adding that she hopes the project can be under way around the first of the year.
That will allow customers younger than 18 to eat in the family dining area.
"We're trying to work the bugs out," she said, "We've actually drawn up the plans."
And those plans are hanging in the window of the adjacent storefront.
With a younger clientele on the horizon, the Hopkinses came to a sudden realization the other day.
"Jay said, 'Oh my gosh, we're going to have to get high chairs,'" Jackie laughed.
Moore's Bar will be celebrating its 75th anniversary this fall with Jackie and Jay Hopkins marking their fifth year of ownership in November.
By then, though, Moore's will have additional competition downtown with the Tap House 24 and Wasser Brewing Co. projects expected to be in full swing.
"If they bring more people downtown, that's great for everybody," Hopkins said. "We're all different."