Rumours 2.0

You can go home again.

This afternoon, I took a deposition downtown (and when I say I killed, I mean I took no prisoners) and finished a few minutes before 5 p.m.  After I spoke to my client for a few minutes, I drove over to the Gulch to visit some old friends and, maybe, make a few new ones.

Rumours Wine Bar, one of my all time favorite watering holes, reopened earlier this week at its new location on Division Street.  I had many, many glasses of wine at Rumour's original location in 12South, near our house.  Thanks to urban slumlord and purveyor of urban blight, Jimmy Granbery, the original Rumours closed a little more than a year ago when his company bought the property on which it was located to build a hideous multi-unit condominium complex (but that's another story).

And damn, I've missed Rumours.  I've missed sharing a glass of wine with my friends, Hal Humphreys (the Mayor of 12South) and Kim Green.  I've missed sitting outside on the patio, sipping from my wine glass, as cars drive by on 12th Avenue.  I've missed stopping in with J.P. just to say hi to everyone.  I've missed seeing Jenn McCarthy and Christy Shuff, the proprietresses (is that even a word?).  Most of all, I've missed that feeling of being in a neighborhood bar.  My neighborhood bar.

Tonight, when I walked in, I was greeted by familiar faces behind the bar and on the floor.  Later I learned that all of the staff had re-joined Jenn and Christy at Rumours' new location, after scattering like leaves for a year.  That alone is a testament to the fact that Rumours is something special, something more than a bar or restaurant.

I sat down at the bar and the bartender (and a new friend), Caleb, poured me a glass of Hudson Baby Bourbon Whiskey.  As I sipped my whiskey and looked around, I felt really, really happy.  Like I had come home to find my house had been renovated.  But it was still my house.  It sounds strange and I can't quite put into words what I mean, but it "felt" like the old Rumours.  Sure, things look different and the drink menu has expanded beyond wine (including liquor and beer) but I felt like I had come home again.

Within a few minutes, Jenn McCarthy arrived and after a hug, we talked at the bar for a few minutes.  Just like old times.  She was beaming with pride, as she talked about the new location and pointed out a few artifacts from the old location.  And I was proud of her (and Christy).  I am amazed that these two ladies - who had the business they had built taken away from them by a greedy developer - persevered and found a way to keep Rumours alive for the past year until they were able to open in a new location.

For me, it goes back to how I felt the night the original Rumours closed.  Rumours is something special.  It's more than a bar or restaurant.  It's not something you can touch, necessarily, but it is something you can feel.  It's a combination of memories, shared conversations with friends and moments of quiet contemplation alone with a glass of wine.  It's familiarity, comfort and a safe haven from the real world and all the craziness that awaits just outside the door.

Jenn McCarthy and Christy Shuff are the creators, protectors and keepers of all of that.  By some minor miracle (and I can't begin to understand it), they managed to save Rumours even as the original building that housed it was being demolished and keep it alive when there was no place it could call home.  Then, against all odds, they built a new home for Rumours.

I felt all of that as I sat at the bar today, sipping my whiskey, smiling.  Happy.  Home.