YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A downtown bar will be able to open its front wall and let in fresh air this summer.

The city’s design review committee Tuesday approved a $10,156 grant for Ryes Craft Beer & Whiskey, which will replace its massive front window with a garage-type roll-up door.

Work on the $20,132 project will begin soon so that it will be completed in time for warm summer days, co-owner Jeff Kurz told the committee at its meeting.

Ryes is on the second floor of 124 W. Federal St. Imbibe Martini Bar is on the first floor of the building. Kurz and his business partner, Brad Schwartz, co-own both businesses.

The project includes installing a steel safety rail, with a drink ledge atop it, along the edge of the opening.

The garage-type door will be made from half-inch-thick tinted and insulated glass, Kurz said. It will cover an opening that is 16 feet long and 8 feet high.

Decals that spell out the name of the bar, similar to what currently exists on the window, will be added to the door and will be visible from the street.

An overhang that partially covers the patio of Imbibe will remain in place.

The project is one of several improvements being made at Ryes. “We’re refreshing our place, redoing the booths, getting new stools and expanding our offerings of drinks,” Kurz said.

He and Schwartz opened Imbibe in 2003 and added Ryes in 2014.

Business at Imbibe and Ryes has improved sharply in recent months, Kurz said, because of its drink menu – and a viral social media video that praises it.

It all started when a patron responding to a TikTok challenge to find alcoholic drinks that do not taste like alcohol visited Imbibe. His video told many viewers that the bar offers scores of drinks that do not taste like alcohol. The resulting influx of business has been better than that of any marketing effort the bar had mounted in the past, Kurz said with a laugh.

The decision to add the roll-away window reflects the owners’ commitment to downtown Youngstown, Kurz said.

The nightlife district has been struggling since the Covid-19 pandemic, with several restaurants and bars closing in the past four years.

Ryes’ announcement comes a week after another closing was announced. 

West 34, a bar and restaurant at the corner of West Federal and North Phelps Street, has gone out of business. Thursday was its final day.

The design review committee also approved the two other items on its agenda at its meeting. They are:

  • A request to replace the roof of Stambaugh Auditorium. The existing patinated copper roof on the concert hall building will be removed and replaced by one made of steel with a copper finish, which will match the existing appearance. The project is estimated to cost $2.5 million. The cost of replacing it with a copper roof would have been prohibitive, a spokesperson for the auditorium said.
  • A facade grant of $12,000 for Millcreek Millworks, 1423 Lilac St., for improvements to the parking lot, replacement of a garage door and installation of gutters. The company, and its 100-year-old building, was sold last year, said Lori Sayavich, who is part of the new ownership team.

Pictured at top: This architect’s rendering shows the clear-paned window-door that will be added to the front wall of Ryes Craft Beer & Whiskey.