The Globe returns with new owners and new everything else
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
(as reported in The Inlander)
The green-and-maroon sign towering over the corner of Division and Main marks a business that was a home-away-from-home gathering spot to many locals for 14 years. But during the past three years, the Globe Bar & Grille sat vacant.
Walk inside now, and someone who used to frequent the Globe won't recognize the thoroughly redone restaurant that debuted with new owners late last month as the Globe Bar & Kitchen.
"If anyone is expecting it to be like the old Globe, it's completely different. It's just in the same spot," says James Fountain, who opened the Globe Bar and Kitchen with his longtime friend Ryan Bates and Bates' fiancée, Dianna Dahlgren.
Fountain and Bates also own the Blind Buck cocktail bar next door, which is all part of the Globe building, built as the Globe Hotel around 1908. The two were interested in the old Globe when they first started their bar, but were wary of opening something big too soon. After seeing the success of the Blind Buck over the past year and a half, they decided to go for it.
"It was available, and this is something that we always wanted to do — introduce food and have space," Fountain says.
Over the course of six months they gutted and completely remodeled the Globe. One of the main goals was widening the interior in order to build a square bar in the center to make the atmosphere better for socializing, says Fountain.
The bar seats about 50 people and 12 TVs hang overhead. On Saturdays, you can watch them and catch Dahlgren as Monster Energy's Miss Supercross, presenting the races on FOX Sports. Including the bar, booths and black tables surrounded by cushy stools, about 170 people can sit. At night, the restaurant ambiance transitions to a lounge feel, with DJs, bottle service and space to dance in the back.
Local artists added to the décor with metalwork and a vintage sign painted on the brick. With all of the changes (the only thing kept was the tin ceiling), the owners made sure to get the previous owner's blessing to carry over the Globe name to the new business. Read more.
