A Hollister couple is moving forward with their plans to turn
the long-vacant Union Bank building on the southwest corner of
Fifth and San Benito streets into a bar and lounge called the
Broken Wing, which many are hoping will be a new venue to attract
people to downtown.
Hollister – A Hollister couple is moving forward with their plans to turn the long-vacant Union Bank building on the southwest corner of Fifth and San Benito streets into a bar and lounge called the Broken Wing, which many are hoping will be a new venue to attract people to downtown.
Larry and Julia Otis, who received a use permit to operate the bar from the city planning commission in September, say they are hoping to open the Broken Wing by spring. They applied for a license to serve beer and wine this month and hope to begin renovations by the first of the year.
It was after talking to friends and neighbors who complained that there wasn’t enough of a variety of entertainment options in Hollister that Otis said he and his wife decided to undertake opening the new lounge. Otis, who works in the telecommunications industry in Gilroy and Morgan Hill, also said he was ready for a change in occupation.
“I was interested in doing something different,” he said. “I went to school and picked up a MBA – I though I’d put it to work and not waste the investment.”
The Otis’ hope the Broken Wing will attract people who are tired of the existing downtown bar scene and want a place to enjoy a glass of wine or beer and some music.
In addition to serving beer, wine, coffee and other non-alcoholic drinks, the Broken Wing will feature live music – such as Chicago Blues, jazz and Motown – on Friday and Saturday nights, and on weeknights if there is a demand. The lounge will also have a dance floor, dart boards and a pool table. It will be open Monday through Saturday from noon to 2am, and from noon to 10pm on Sundays.
The bar’s namesake stems from something familiar to many Hollister residents – motorcycle culture – and its theme will focus on motorcycles from 1900 to 1930. The “broken wing” insignia shows eagle’s wings folded over a Harley Davidson motorcycle and is worn by bikers who have been in a crash. Otis said he earned broken wing status last year when he crashed his motorcycle in Arizona and broke his collar bone and several ribs.
City officials and members of the downtown community hope that, once it opens, the Broken Wing will further efforts to revitalize downtown by creating a new destination point in the area while putting a vacant building to use.
“I’m for anything that’s producing income (downtown),” Councilman Brad Pike said. “It will offer a different form of entertainment.”
If people are coming downtown to visit venues like the Broken Wing, they are more apt to stay and explore the rest of what downtown has to offer and maybe give stores a reason to stay open later, according to Hollister Downtown Association Executive Director Brenda Weatherly.
“The more kinds of places we have like this that generate traffic downtown and pull people downtown, there’s more possibility for the stores to stay open longer,” she said.
Luke Roney covers local government and the environment for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at [email protected]
