The Catalina: Developer eyes new chapter for neighborhood bar with a colorful history

Built at the turn of the century, the two-story building at 3032 E. Washington St. started as a residential property.

Throughout its first 50 years, the building was home to numerous businesses and residents in the Englewood community. Now, it might have a chance to be home to something new.

Around 1915, an addition was built onto the front of the building that would play host to a slew of bars and taverns. A small-scale repair garage was operated in another addition on the backside of the building from 1920-1925.

In 1956, the owners at the time, brothers Dick and Frank Cardis, changed the name to Catalina, a moniker that remains today.

The Catalina now stands empty — damaged by a pair of fires in the last two years and littered with trash — a shell of what it once was. Despite its faded glory, Joe Bowling of Englewood Community Development Corporation sees potential in the building and hopes to turn it into a place of value to the community once again.

Owner and longtime manager set bar's tone

During its heyday, the Catalina was a memorable place to stop in for a beer on the city's east side. Many online reviews mention the owner Joe Wilson and his longtime bartender and manager Ruth Ann “China” Norris, by name.

"The owner is really cool, and the beer and liquor is cheap," a 2015 review read. "Good neighborhood bar to grab a drink and enjoy the eastside. By no means a fancy place, but it is clean and welcoming."

China (pronounced “Chee-nah”) was known for taking care of her customers and calling out any regulars who were not on their best behavior. She died in 2014 and her dedication to the Catalina did not go unmentioned in her obituary.

“[She] was employed by Joe Wilson as the Bartender/Manager for 22 years and never in all her years has missed a scheduled day of work,” her obituary read.

Wilson cared so deeply about his customers that he had a Wall of Fame in the bar with framed photos of regulars who had died. He even hosted a funeral at the bar for one of them. Wilson asked Mike Bowling, a pastor of Englewood Christian Church and the father of Joe Bowling, for help.

A woman and her husband went to the Catalina fairly regularly and after she died, Wilson wanted to comfort the widower by having a service at the bar. The bar remained open and the service was only interrupted once by a loud patron.

Mike Bowling recalls grieving customers saying to the interrupter: “Hey can’t you see that there’s a funeral here? Sit down and shut up.”

“It was the most bizarre funeral that I’ve ever been part of, but it was indicative of the type of family relationship they had developed there,” Mike Bowling said. “Their ability to do that and reach out and try to do something that would bring some comfort, I thought was just remarkable.”

Some 'customers' were dummies — really

The Catalina became known for its solid basic beer assortment (no local brews or anything like that), adored management and lively regulars who became like family.

“I think that was just part of Joe’s personality and preferences that ‘We’re not going to be one of these trendy places, we’re just going to be a kind of old school, neighborhood bar,'” Mike Bowling said.

In the later years, the bar was painted Colts blue with team jerseys and flags hung up all over the bar. A collection of posters and pictures of Marilyn Monroe (Wilson's favorite celebrity) was proudly displayed. A laminated piece of paper was taped to the long mirror above the booths as a warning that read “If you are caught [HUSTLING] CIGARETTES, DRINKS OR MONEY from any of our patrons, you will be BARRED for life. NO EXCEPTIONS!”

Patrons could throw darts, play billiards or watch a local sports game on the TV above the bar. It was a standard neighborhood bar — almost.

One of the most notable design elements not easily ignored about the Catalina was the gaggle of mannequins throughout the bar.

"I thought they were funny," Wilson said.

Five to six mannequins could be spotted at any time. One dressed as Elvis sat in a booth, dining with another one sometimes dressed as Marilyn Monroe, with room for patrons to sit down and join them. Many customers did, some even talked to them, Wilson recalled.

"It was surprising how many people would sit down and start a conversation with them," Wilson said. "I'd have to go over and tell them 'You're talking to dummies.' It was sort of funny in a way."

The mannequins were either loved or hated by customers with not many feelings in between.

“If you were a person who thought [the mannequins] were cool, you were attracted to it. If you were a person who felt like you had walked back in time or were in the middle of a 'Doctor Who' episode, you might’ve been weirded out by the place,” said Mike Bowling. He has been a pastor at Englewood Christian Church for over 30 years and while he wasn't a bar regular, he knew its ambiance.

A customer left a review in 2019 describing how they witnessed a man dancing on a mannequin and giving it dollar bills, like it was a dancer.

"[It] was a bit awkward but made for a good laugh!" the Yelp review read. "I will absolutely come back because you just can't beat the dive bar charm it has!"

When George Hanlin, now the director of grants at Indiana Humanities, was putting together the East Side Pub Crawl brochures in 2010, he looked for bars that had intrigue. He looked for “The sort of places you would be curious about, but afraid to go in by yourself.”

The Catalina was that for many patrons.

It may not have been the type of place everyone wanted to hang out, but locals liked it.

Catalina has seen it all, the good, the bad and the ugly

Under the Cardis brothers, the Catalina operated as a restaurant/tavern on the lower level that many employees from the P.R. Mallory campus across the street frequented until it closed in 1978.

An illegal sports betting operation was run in the rooms upstairs, Wilson said. When he bought the building in 1985, there were about 30 phones upstairs left behind. Wilson recalled that some of the bookies became customers at the bar.

Wilson had owned a few other bars and taverns in Indianapolis before deciding "the price was right" on the Catalina. It was a topless bar for a few years before the city eventually shut it down.

There were several thefts and burglaries over the years. An upstairs tenant died in 2019. Shots were fired outside the bar in 2021. There was an overdose that same year.

"There were its share of police runs and things like that, but it's not like it's not like it was a source of a big time neighborhood crime," Joe Bowling, director the Englewood Community Development Corporation said. "It definitely was a little rough around the edges, but it really wasn't a stain on the community in the same way you might think of as a bad bar."

In January 2022, an accidental fire that started in one of the upstairs rooms led to the Catalina's permanent closing.

The building has stood empty since then, but the Catalina's story might not be over.

The Englewood Community Development Corporation bought the building from Wilson in July 2022.

Joe Bowling has been working on plans to repurpose the building with a restaurant on the lower level with the upstairs converted into four affordable micro-apartments.

“A lot of our friends and neighbors like the idea of a place to get some food and even something to drink on the first floor and we do a lot of affordable housing development and there's certainly a tremendous need for that in our neighborhood,” Joe Bowling said.

Wilson would like to see what changes get made to the Catalina.

"I'm 85 and I go out very seldom, but I would definitely go over there and see what he's done," Wilson said.

Joe Bowling himself has ties to the building. As a longtime resident in Englewood, he visited the Catalina a few times over the years and has kept in touch with Wilson. When Joe Bowling's daughter turned 21, she celebrated at the Catalina with friends and family, including her grandfather, Mike Bowling.

“Our grandchildren chose to celebrate at least part of their 21st birthdays there,” Mike Bowling said. “They felt it was the neighborhood place and they should have their first beer there at the Catalina.”

Is there a new chapter in Catalina story?

Chris Benedyk, owner of Love Handle, the breakfast and lunch restaurant located on Mass. Ave., and Dominic Senibaldi, owner of Cathead Press, a print shop and artist collective, have been in talks for about a year to create a restaurant together called the Handshake. They hope the Catalina will become its home.

Both have ties to the east side.

Love Handle used to be located on East 10th and North Rural streets and Cathead Press is right up the street from the Catalina.

Senibaldi has been renting from Englewood Community Development Corporation since 2016. When he reached out to Joe Bowling about another building for their restaurant he learned about the Catalina’s availability.

“We are both invested in the near east side and think that space has a cool history,” Senibaldi said.

But on Oct. 19, days before the project was initially set to go to bid, another fire broke out at the Catalina. The fire damage on the backside of the building resulted in additional work and repairs that needed done before it going to bid, which extended the timeline.

Some would think the building is a lost cause at this point, but knowing the history and resilience of the Catalina, Joe Bowling is hopeful.

The Catalina embodies the spirit of the east side and Joe Bowling hopes to pay homage to its history in the restoration. He shared that the mannequins are tucked away in storage.

"We want to at least have a little corner of the Handshake that is a bit of a shout-out to the history of the Catalina," Joe Bowling said. "That might mean maybe a mannequin."

Contact IndyStar reporter Katie Wiseman at klwiseman@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @itskatiewiseman.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: The Catalina: Future promising for a neighborhood bar with a rich past