 Welcome to a Rational Speak Easy. We're sitting here in the basement of the old Imperial Hotel here on 3rd and Main in Longmont, Colorado. Sarah the owner has turned this place into a true speak easy and it's wonderful. But first of all, let's talk a little bit about the history of the Imperial Hotel. Sarah, give us a bit of a rundown on the Imperial. The Imperial. The Imperial is a historic building. It was founded by Chicago Colony in 1880. They came here on horse and buggy with the idea in mind of doing Longmont as a western Chicago in the West. So 1880, it was Longmont's first hotel. It had 66 rooms, two blocks from 1st and Main. There was a lot going on in Longmont, Colorado. Very thriving, very thriving city back in the 1800s. Oh well, the gold rush, of course. Yeah, the gold rush. And there was a flower mining and a sugar mill. And there was a lot going on here in Longmont, Colorado. And it stayed that way until probably the late 60s, early 70s. It was then turned into apartments and has been a multi-use building. It's been apartments as well as the first level with restaurant and stores and bars and speakeasy and Longmont's longest standing coffee shop. The Java stop is also on the first floor. So, currently. Interesting. And of course, we'll let the cat out of the bag. Someone is turning this back into a hotel. The Imperial is now going to be called the Imperial 301 because within it, it's going to have all the things. It's going to have the restaurant, the Java stop, the Imperial Emporium, which this building once was named in the 70s. And it's going to have the Imperial Hotel on the second and the third floor. There will be five hotel rooms, traditional hotel rooms. And there will also be four hotel boutiques, suites, which are much larger in size. There's two bedrooms, living room, kitchen space, very unique. We're going to see those a little bit later, aren't we? Yes. Yes, we are. Very quickly, what made you think about turning this into the speakeasy? Is it something you've always wanted to do? I wouldn't say always wanted to do. Just the trajectory of my life has led me here. I had previously opened a bar up the street on third. And I was in business with somebody else, but then the opportunity came for me to be able to expand on my visions and what I would do if I was able to do it my way. So we came down here. Our primary focus is music and an atmosphere and an ambiance. And the speakeasy has done that. I feel like we've showed the community who we are and what we are. And it is the foundation of the Imperial 301 to come. It's absolutely perfect. I think it's time we had a quick look upstairs, though I have a funny feeling quick is probably the wrong word to use. Yes. I don't know how much you've got to show us. It's a great big building. It's a massive building. I don't think people realize just how big this place is. Are you ready to go upstairs and give us a conducted tour? Are you ready? Absolutely perfectly. Yes. Let's go. Let's go. So Sarah, here we are on Main Street and as people can see, we're pretty busy today here in Longmont. Yes. It's always a thriving little metropolis. Right. So tell me, this used to be the grand entrance to the hotel. Is that correct? Correct. So let us do a grand entrance. So this used to be the old grand entrance to the Imperial. Correct. Wow. This is the foyer. This is quite a lobby area they had. Yes. It's beautiful. So this is the future use of this space. We are going to add little railing, beautiful wrought iron. There's wrought iron throughout this entire building that's been here, which is part of the nature of what makes it so ornate and decorative. It's going to, I have a secured a flat top baby grand. It's called a square baby grand piano from the 1800s, very ornate and decorative with little bistro seating and the little iron will be to separate the seating from the flow of traffic. So people are coming in, they're either checking into their hotel room or they are going into the restaurant, the juice bar, the java stop, the emporium and then later on in the afternoon they could go downstairs to this pique easy. Absolutely. And they may actually end up meeting me, poor people. So is the ceiling original? The ceiling is original. Oh wow. The ceiling is original. This beautiful staircase is original. We are working on bringing back the original stain of the wood. All the radiators that you see throughout the building, they're all in operating condition. Excellent. And they do a great job. Excellent. And I know you've been studying the plans of the old hotel because you're trying to restore it back to how it used to actually be. Correct. So. That is an undertaking and a half. It is especially because the plans were burnt in some fire that the city hall had in the early 1900s. Oh no. So what I did is I went to the museum and I retrieved as much information in a ton of photographs that were taken throughout this space, throughout history and the Longmont Museum does a pretty good job of archiving all these things. Excellent. So yeah. So we now know exactly what's going to happen here and of course we've all been admiring some of these beautiful old photographs that you've got hanging on the walls. Where should we go next? What would be the best thing to do? Let's go this way and we will walk into the future restaurant. Oh, let's go and have a look at the future restaurant. That's perfect. The cornerstone in the revival. You mean you're going to have two bars here and I now have to make a decision. Go and have a look at the restaurant, which I believe is through here. Yes. This will be the entrance. Excellent. And this will be like a waiting area, greeting area. This is the entrance from the interior of the building. This will be a waiting area and greeting area. Perfect. And I take it through here is going to actually be a restaurant itself. To the right, this is going to be the juice bar that operates early in the morning into the afternoon, but it will also be a bar that complements that caters to the restaurant with a very small menu. Very limited cocktail choices and wines. Right. Cotails from the 20s? I have no doubt. This is a wonderful room as well. Okay. So my favorite part I think about this entire project is this part right here. So these choices will be removed and what you will then have is an atrium that goes all the way to the third story and the roof will be a full size. The same size as the square skylight. Oh, nice. And these spiral staircases go up to the second and the third floor. And this will be what once was the Imperial Skylight Lounge. Oh, okay. I'm not calling it that, but that's what it was called. But it'll be beautiful. It'll have ornate, the raw iron, art on the ceilings, both on the second and the third, ladder green, live plants, foliage, and just a lot of beautiful. Right. I love the windows as well, they're beautiful. You don't often get to see that nowadays the way they actually design the old hotels back then. Right. Right. All the ornate. Also, I'd like to point out, this was the second original floor. Oh, wow. The original was missing too many large pieces of it to consider. So you could tell the original, this probably goes back, I would say, to the 30s or 40s by the way that they nailed the nails in the flooring. So we salvaged this little square here and we'll build off of this throughout. Right. But there'll be seating throughout here. Excellent. Excellent. And then... So where should we go next? I'm intrigued to find out what's happening in there. Yes, let's go in here. This is the great, this is the great room, which is the main dining space off of Main Street with the Main Street entrance. Oh, excellent. Let's go and have a little peek around the corner. So I would like to, for all the watchers, viewers, keep in mind, we are under construction. I think that's not an example. We are waiting for the tile to come from Texas for the kitchen. So basically the kitchen is in the dining room. But really quick, my favorite part about this room, from floor to ceiling, the original exterior was a storefront, which is all window, window, window, window. We're going to have French doors. There's photos supporting that, so the historic society should allow us to go ahead. We haven't got that far, but we should have that beautiful like it once was. And this is just going to be beautiful, circle both seating along the edges of the, along the walls and just little tables in the middle. Right. Are you going to keep the original brickwork? I am. Oh, excellent. I think that really adds to a place. Yes. I'm going to add a third column and make them columns. I'm doing columns throughout here. Okay. And a lot of the photos you see, there's columns everywhere. Yes. Okay. Yes. You are a girl of many columns. Okay. Some of this brickwork is just gorgeous and the way, you can see how old it is. What is interesting is you can see how they built the building in the additions and how it originally, the state of the building originally and then how it continued to grow. How it evolved over the years. There you go. It's unfortunate. There's not photos of it, but we could tell by being here and just kind of learning the layout of the land where you see there used to be a door. These were windows. I believe that this area was like a, like a courtyard. Oh, okay. Originally. Okay. The second dining room. Right. This is absolutely incredible. Where should we head for next? I think the kitchen. We're standing right next to it. We might as well. So we may as well go straight to the kitchen. Get a sneak peek. Yeah. Let's go and have a quick gander. So Sarah, talk about the kitchen area, which we're now entering and this is so different from when you first showed it to me. Wow. The kitchen, the kitchen needed a lot of TLC. It still needs so much. There needs to be a lot replaced. We're currently waiting on our permits and the final drawings from the architects and the structural engineer to do a lot of the things, but we, throughout this whole space that we have walked this far, there's been about five layers of floor in every space. Yes. So it's just pulling up layers of OSB and plywood and plywood and some more plywood. Even more plywood. So we've replaced the plywood. We got out the Chinese because it was a Chinese restaurant for a couple of decades. Their equipment is gone and this is just one great big magnificent kitchen that's going to produce some incredible dishes. You're not kidding. Yeah. You're not kidding. This really is quite an amazing space. This hotel has got so many little nooks and crannies that you can't believe how big some of them are. It's amazing. Yes. It really is. Yeah, this is going to be... And I take it that's going to be a walk in fridge. So yeah, we have the walk-in cooler. This is the freezer. There's a door to go outside over here. Okay. This will be prep and we're going to do some specialty things over here. Okay. That's wonderful. I love it. I love it. Quickly on going back on the floor, when I bought my house, my first house ever in Hollis, New Hampshire, we decided to redecorate one of the bedrooms and we went through eight layers of wallpaper and we went back wallpaper in time and we went back 100 years of wallpaper. Yeah. It was quite interesting, especially the Art Deco era. Anyway, good. So where would you like to take me next? Let's go into that. We're kind of going around, but there's a second dining room that is on this side of the kitchen. Oh, wow. So let's go and have a look. This is intriguing. So let's have a look at this other dining area that you're talking about. Perfect. Oh, this is beautiful. Give us a little bit. It's going to be so beautiful. This space, it comes in off of the entrance here. This will be more family dining, couple little nooks for couples coming to have a little date night. This wall right here that has this beautiful Damascus blue wallpaper that was behind some wood paneling. There's also another wallpaper that shows a different era that's to the side right there. Very interesting, though. This piece that drops down right here has an I-beam. This used to be the exterior wall or interior if you're standing up in this raised area. But that was the edge of the hotel, and I do believe that this was like a courtyard space just by looking at the brickwork of doors and windows. You can kind of tell what were exterior windows and which were doors. It was probably also a stable area. Correct. Because we shouldn't forget, we're back in the days of horse storm carriage, etc. Right. And I also have heard rumors of the well, you know, access to it where they get the water. So I don't really know. I wasn't here. But just from looking at the layout of the brickwork that is here, I believe we would have been standing outside in a courtyard area. I think you're probably right, 100% right on that one. Yeah. If you were here then, you'd now be a ghost, and that has me worried. But back inside, it's interesting, I'm sorry to cut you out. I believe that this was all one great big room. The men's bathroom didn't exist. You can tell there's reflections of that by the, there's two beautiful medallions up on the ceiling that is above the dropped ceiling that is hiding all the pipes and the sprinkler system and all the things that have been added since the building was first constructed. So that's just, it's putting together all the pieces of history. Absolutely. Absolutely. Is the false ceiling going? Or haven't decided yet? No, we're going to keep a drop ceiling. However, it's going to be replaced. Yeah, well, yes. But, okay. It's a shame because those medallions, you know. I think I'm going to leave out a couple of the squares and accent them in an artistic way. That's a very, very good idea. Yeah. That is a very good idea. As well as the wallpaper. Because that wallpaper is a print wallpaper. It shows its era. Right. Right. And then lastly, right now the only way to access the Emporium, which is going to be like a little bodega, we're here on 3rd and Main Street, downtown, and there's not a lot as far as running to the quick convenience store, like a 7-Eleven, somewhere to go grab a quick something to eat or to drink, some cigarettes, all the little things that might be needed or appreciated, like a 7-Eleven convenience store. So you're going to have a sort of like a mini convenience store right here in the hotel. Yes. And then from the hallway, coming in from the alley, the back alley. Oh, okay. Nice. Good idea. Yeah. I love it. So let's go and have a look at the atrium. Perfect. My favorite space. This is a rabbit warren. It's a what? A rabbit warren, passages leading everywhere, doors, et cetera. I'm not familiar with this term. I would like to once again point out the beautiful ornate decorative staircase. This is such a wonderful staircase. When you consider how old it is, it actually makes less noise than mine. Oh, this is the future atrium. Yes. This door and the drawings will be moved down a little bit this way. Okay. Are you ready? Oh, wow. And there of course is the infamous spiral staircase. Yes. That you did see downstairs. It's going to all be connected. Yes. With more ornate decorative. What we're seeing here is remnants of what I spoke on the Imperial Skylight Lounge. So the square got reduced so that it was a living space that was a woman's bedroom upstairs. And they called this the studio apartment, but it's going to, it's so beautiful. I want to share it with the community because it's the only thing like it in the whole space. It's unique. Right. Absolutely unique. So the whole square will then, that we looked at downstairs will be removed. It'll match the same measurements as this as well as the roof and the skylight will then be put back the same size. So the bathroom's going to go. This will all be, it'll be used as a common area with wifi, tranquil. You want to meet somebody, have coffee, go grab a juice at the juice bar, get something to eat from the bodega or maybe even the restaurant. It's just going to be a beautiful space to share. A beautiful little space for people to relax in. Correct. And enjoy it. Tranquil, very tranquil. Very tranquil. That is a good word. It's not used enough. This is a beautiful area. So the same space that is here is also upstairs. Right. And what I foresee and I have so many artists that are so excited just waiting for us to get to this phase, the art, if you could just imagine with me the art on the ceiling of the second and the third floor. So when you're on the first floor looking at, you're going to see two floors of decorative ornate right iron that's higher because these are not code. And alongside that will be all the art going all the way up to sun shining in and I'm actively looking for the most beautiful skylight, something with something really different. Perfect. Perfect. And I love the idea of the art, except for because it's going to be in 3D. Yeah. It really is going to be interesting with the spiral staircase with the spiral staircase and everything. And it's really going to be an amazing little area. This is good. This is good. I'm going to assume that because this was an apartment that used to be a bathroom. Correct. So you're not going to stay or go. That's going to go. Oh, that's going to go. So you're going to square the room off. Yes. That'll make it even bigger. Yes. Wow. This is quite something. This really is. Do you have any more words about the atrium or shall we go and have a look at one of your new hotel rooms? I don't have any more words. The atrium is going to speak for itself. It really is. So I would love to show you one of the, I would love to show you first one of the boutique hotel suites. One of my favorites. Oh, suites. I like that word. Let's go and have a look. Let's go. Perfect. So why don't you show me, show us the executive suite. I mean, oh my goodness. So this is bigger than my original first house. It's a good. It's huge. It's huge. This one I'm going to promote for parties and families to come. And they will be able to entertain their own guests. This is a beautiful kitchen. It's going to have a beautiful island and the lighting. Just, it's a, it's a great space coming through here. You can't really see because there's trash, but there's frying stores. And I'm going to place a pool table in here. So it's going to be like a failure. You're going to bring up one of your Budweiser. No. So this room will be like a game room. Something for people to do. And then through here, this is a great big living room. So you could do all kinds of things in this living room. Oh my goodness. It's also going to be decorated very beautifully. Yeah. The word is just the word that I am repeating over and over because this building is just that we're going to refurbish or what is the word? Restore the wood floors. These ones are not in too terrible condition. These could probably be sanded down and restored. Which would be nice. So this is a two bedroom suite, one bathroom. And my favorite thing about this suite, and I'm going to promote and advertise is this suite conjoins with another room, another hotel suite. Oh, okay. So if you want to follow me. So two or three families could actually come and stay in these two rooms. Yes. And with permission, and obviously if both parties are here visiting together, they each have their own door of access and they can come and go. They can come from over here. I mean, this has got to be what? I mean, how many square feet? But this has got to be at least a thousand square feet. This area. I'd have thought. I mean, it's absolutely incredible. Yeah, show us the other apartment. So let's have a look at the second suite, which is adjoining the first suite. This one. This is wonderful. Oh my goodness. I'm going to have to go wow again. This has its own balcony, its own entrance from outside. Oh wow. Yes. So there is a little patio out here, a balcony patio. And I am going to promote this and advertise it is like, I'm going to be more creative, but the bride and groom room, because we have an event center across the street. There is a new one coming on first in Maine. And every weekend there's wedding parties. Right. Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And as opposed to staying at traditional hotels, how fun would it be to block out the boutique hotel that we have here at the Imperial? Yes. You can have your own space, your own kitchen, your own entertainment. You can pass through the door. The family can stay here. The bride and groom have their own beautiful space. This room here, I'm going to do very specific for photography. It's such a bright space. You could really capture some beautiful photos in that room right there. That is perfect. Absolutely perfect. So this has what? The one bedroom. So this will be a one bedroom, correct? Two person bathtub. Beautiful little suite. Right. And again, of course, there are a couple of bunk beds in there. No reason. No, no, no, no. People don't mind that. They can call for a cut. All right. A cut. A roll away. Absolutely perfect. Again, I mean, two families could be here, two families next door. What a great way to visit. This is two of what will be for. And then I would like to show you an example of one of the bedrooms or just the hotel rooms, which is a king size bed and bathroom. Excellent. Excellent. Before we do that, though, let's have a quick look in this bedroom. Okay. It's not complete now. Not complete, but again, you know, it's a lovely area. It's going to be, it's also going to be incredibly beautiful. The bathroom is special. Yes. It's a work in progress currently. Ah, but I see that it's nearly coming up to completion. We're getting there. Oh, look at this. I love your choice of tile. Isn't that gorgeous? It's going to look very nice when the paint, when everything in it just flows. For some reason it's given me a feeling of art deco days just because of the gold ribbon and everything else. That's one of the things about every room and every space is going to be very eclectic. And with all the different eras that have been throughout this history of 1880 to 2023, I can use whatever era I want to decorate. Mix and match. I can. Each room has its own style, its own feel, and its own energy, its own vibe. Yes, it does indeed. So let's go and have a look at the, I hate to use the word standard, but let's go and have a look at one of the more normal hotel rooms that you're going to be creating. And I'm going to assume that this is the south wing. This is the south wing. Absolutely. I would like to point out in its original state, each one of these doors that you see was a room, very small room, probably twin size bed, a little nightstand with a water basin because there was a common area for this room. But these are part of the 66 rooms that were within the hotel. We managed to do 66 just by making them very small and squeezing as many people in as possible. Absolutely. So here is an example right here. Oh, perfect. So this will fit a king size bed. And you will have your own bathroom. Very, very nice. And of course, there is the original ceiling. That in itself is quite magical. And it's not often you get to see stuff like that. We took the drop ceiling down because it was sitting much lower on top of the window. You can see the paint line. And I wanted that extra room to see the arch. It's just the small things. You can see the bricks above. And it just gives height to it. It gives you a little bit more height in here, which is nice, really nice. And the five layers of floor that was on here. It's a little bit wonky, but I think that's what adds character to. Oh, absolutely. How old is the building? About 120, 130 years old? I think we're getting close to 150 years. Oh, wow. 143 to be exact. So, you know, we can expect the floors to be a little uneven. That is very, very normal on a building, especially with our expansive clay. I would like to also point out outside this window and throughout the backside that I have eager artists that are going to come through and mural some beautiful art. Oh, perfect. So looking out the windows, it's not going to be just looking out the window. No, there'll be something there. It's going to be a lot of photo opportunities, correct? Perfect. Absolutely perfect. Just what a wonderful building it really, really is. Yeah. So, Sarah, you've pretty well taken us around now the whole of the building on what you're going to do with it. I assume the similar things are going to happen upstairs as well. Correct. Okay. No problem whatsoever. Is there anything else you'd like to show us before we say goodbye? Wow. Can you think of anything? Or do you have any final words? Final words. Final words. Well, this project is very special. It has come about kind of organically all on its own. And I would love to involve the community and I would love for everybody to get involved. And if that means a donation, which is what we would love to see is people that want to donate to the resurrection and the restoration of this historic building. It's quite an undertaking that I've taken on. I think we need to read. I think overwhelming. I personally have invested all of my finances and I am still seeking to figure out the whole financing because it's a lot. Right. But we're going to proceed forward and I believe that within this next year and 2024, probably later 2024, we will be ready for a red ribbon cutting grand opening event that I don't think long, long I may not have ever experienced. No. Since the original grand opening perhaps. In its day, this building was very state of the art. Oh, absolutely. It was very exquisite. It was elegant. Anything you read about it, they had carpets brought in from the Venetian rugs. They just, they went the whole nine. They really did do, they put the imperial back into imperial. Exactly. So that's what I'm trying to copy and restore is the feeling that this building just naturally, I mean, it's so full of history. Oh, it is. And it's so special because it's one of the founding, one of the biggest structures, the oldest structures. It's right across the street from the opera house. When you put together the whole picture of this city and how it was founded and what happened then. Right. That has brought us to now. Yes. It's kind of all right here at 301 Main Street. Absolutely amazing. Which is the Imperial 301. The Imperial 301. Yes. In England we have an expression, gobsmacked means lost for words. And you know that I often don't get lost for words, but the passion that you're putting into this project just astonishes me. I mean, it really does. I mean, as soon as you start talking about the Imperial 301, your whole face just lights up. Because I cannot wait to share. I know. I can't. It's going to be so between the restaurant, the atrium, the juice bar, the coffee shop, the little bodega, the hotel suites. And then you have the connecting door, which I don't even think we pointed out, but there will be a connecting door in the foyer area that goes down to the speakeasy. Oh, nice. You have these families that come and they have their wedding somewhere beautiful on their location. They could even do their reception here in the restaurant, but there is the event center here and down the street, like I mentioned. Block out the hotel. You have restaurant for breakfast, lunch, dinner, juice bar. And then you have entertainment for the night. We always have live music every Saturday night. Friday night we have a DJ. We might start up with live music on Friday as well. So it's all encompassing. It's all at one location. That's why it's called the Imperial 301 because it's more than just a hotel. Oh, yes. We're talking of a building that is full of history. So tell me, Sarah, how do you ever see the ghost? The ghost? Let me tell you about the ghost. Oh, please do. Every day, get to bed by three. Take good care of yourself. You belong to me. Be careful crossing street. Ooh, don't eat me. Ooh, cut off street. Ooh, you'll get a pain and row in your cum-cum. Keep away from bootleg. When you're on a street and take good care of yourself. You belong to me. You belong to me.