Demolition. Day One.

Posters

Got these from Wolfgang's Vault...Bill Graham's archive. The Allman Brothers playbill was from his personal collection. It has slight water damage from when his office was firebombed in May, 1985...viva la revolution!!

I'm sure we will find a use for them. I think the '69 one of The Band at Winterland is my favorite.

 

Drum Chandelier Sketch

First pass at the chandelier. Just an idea:

The Drum

I've been thinking quite a bit about how we gently and tastefully extract the building's rich history and make it part of the brand without it feeling forced. One thing in our favor is that the soul of the JJ's brand was going to be rooted in music regardless of where we built the first restaurant. The fact that we are building it in a place that used to be called "The Drum"  - with all of this imagery and history (see below) is just dumbass blind luck. So, what do you do when somebody gives you lemonade? I guess you just try your best not to screw it up.  


All along there have been discussions about installing a chandelier in the (relative) middle of the "Drum" circle. In a recent discussion, someone had the thought to make the chandelier out of old drums. All of us at the table immediately and enthusiastically liked this idea. These little moments (and there has been quite a few already) are by far the most rewarding. Good collaborative discussions typically lead to these moments, but it takes a the right mix of skilled, creative folks who can go out on a limb, and equally skilled people to keep it focused and on the rails. This team has both and I'm thankful for that. 


I have engaged an old friend and talented steelworker Matt Ludwig (www.ludwigmetals.com) on the chandelier project. And we have also talked about using the drum in other ways. (other light fixtures, graphic elements, signage) Stay tuned.  


Below you will find a blogpost from Charlotte Eats from Last July that explains the history of the location and shows some of the excellent print and signage artifacts from the Drum. 

Excerpt of the "Charlotte Eats" blogpost : July 2011

The Drum **HALL OF FAME EATERY*

Early 1960's menu (thanks to Rick Fisher)

Original Drum neon sign

The Drum as it appeared in 1948

The Drum as it appeared in the 1980's

The Drum's logo and motto

1953 ad

1975 ad

The Drum Restaurant was located at 1520 East Blvd. and was opened in 1948 by Wad Smith. When the restaurant was first built, it was round and decorated like a drum. The original set-up included a lunch counter, two tables, four booths, and car-hop curb service. In 1955, it was enlarged to include 15 booths and in 1961, 10 additional booths were added. Curb service continued until 1968. Over time with the enlarging of the restaurant, the original drum structure was built around and was only visible along the roof-line.

Wad's son, Larry, began working at The Drum in 1960, became manager in 1973, and ultimately took over all operations in 1976 when his dad retired.

The concept of The Drum changed very little over the years. Consistently offering home-style cooked meats and vegetables along with daily prepared pies. The menu also offered king mackerel and black bass caught by Wad himself.

The Drum would run for 47 years finally closing on June 28, 1995 after the lunch service. The building has housed several restaurants over the years of varying success. The one constant is the visible drum still rising above the restaurant---a forever symbol of old Charlotte at its finest.

Planning and Design/The "Before" Photos

Wanted to capture one of the more thrilling parts of the project for me, personally. And that is the planning and design stage, where anything is possible. Whiteboards, marked up floor plans, scribbled notes, and the "raw" space will all somehow coalesce into a tangible, living restaurant concept, completely new and original - filled with possibility and hope. 


This time can also be the most terrifying. Tim O'Brien - our architect  - noted the other day that terror and thrill are essentially the same thing, and I agree. (think roller coaster) Especially terrifying is an extensive rehab like this. We are stripping away years and years of brick, mortar, wood, concrete, glass and grime. And nobody really knows what's inside these walls. That is - until we start demo work, and the sledgehammers begin to swing. 


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Initial floor plan and revisions in marker and pencil.

Dining room...the rear wall (where the giant blue wave is) will be our beverage and condiment line...

The bar. This area will eventually be part of the cooking line.

Looking towards the front door. We are going to put a few more windows along the back. Note the curvature of the ceiling. It is part of the original structure that was built in 1947. It was a restaurant called "The Drum" and it was actually shaped like a drum - those were the original exterior walls. We hope to pull out some of that history in the redesign and capture some of the rhythm of the original place. They also had one of the more clever tag lines I've ever heard - "You Can't Beat 'The Drum'!"

These are our architects, Tim (l) and Chris (r) from the RBA Group looking behind the bar. Our plan is to punch a huge hole in that wall (essentially where the green panels are) and make this an open kitchen. However, until we bust through the wall, we won't really know if we can do it, because we don't know what is inside the wall. Demo day is going to be insane.

This is the original walk in door...we are guessing it is 60+ years old. It is huge and heavy and thick, and when it closes with a meaty click, you can feel it throughout the kitchen. We are keeping this door. Of course, we will remove the dumbass signs.

The kitchen...the large unit in the center and the prep tables will go away, as will the killer kitchen sound system on the table on the left. Note the crumpled aluminum foil antenna. Boom boxes like this are in every commercial kitchen in America. I am currently accepting offers.

Dish area...where all the real work will get done.

The "back line" - The plan is to cut a huge hole in that wall running the length of the hood. This will be a pass through to the front of the house.

The managers office. I shudder to think what went on in there over the years...note the tread wear on the floor, like a path through a dark forest. This will be a walk up window, we hope.

The upper deck. This may be the coolest feature of the place. The weather in Charlotte enables diners to hang out up here 9 months of the year.

Patio area and eventual walk up window.

Parking lot and facade. There are about 47 coats of different color paint on this exterior wall...our goal is to restore the original brick, but we are not 100% sure what is under there. It might be broken grey block, in which case we will look at other options.

Temporary Intergalactic Headquarters, JJ's Red Hots.

 

Recruiting Poster

Playing around with the verbiage, but the central message will be: If you don't want to work hard and learn something, go somewhere else...