Sun sets on Sonoma’s Blue Moon Saloon
The infamous Blue Moon Saloon is getting a facelift — it always did look better at 1 a.m. — as new owners prepare to relaunch the locals’ dive as a destination bar with craft cocktails.
‘The Starling’ is due in early July, as designer Anthony Laurino, one of three new owners, supervises the remodel. “For the past week or so, all we have been doing is just cleaning,” he said of the space at West Spain and Highway 12. “The former owners did not give it that much TLC.”
After 30 years as a working bar, the joint was bound to take on stain or two.
The other two partners have a hospitality industry background, on the beverage side, and will bartend at their new venture. Fred Johnson. who opened the bar for the girl & the fig on the Plaza, is the bar manager at Zazu Kitchen in Sebastopol. Liz Takeuchi-Krists is the wine buyer/bartender at Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc in Yountville, and had worked at the girl & the fig, where the two met.
Exiting the business, perhaps after one-too-many spilled beers or mangled karaoke tunes, is owner Mike Reinke. Landlord Leticia Fernandez retains the actual property.
— Val Robichaud and Jonathan Farrell
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Stopped by with my husband last week and we tried a few of the cocktails – fabulous!! Unique!! Thank you Fred!! Met a few locals and had a lively and fun time.