President's Lounge in Akron gets new owners, holiday makeover as Reindeer Room

Everything is mistletoe and holly jolly this month at The President's Lounge in Ellet.

That's because new owners Ken and Lisa Ilg are really in the Christmas spirit — and they want their patrons to be, too.

For their first holiday season as owners of the iconic corner bar at Darrow Road and Newton Street, they've transformed the joint into The Reindeer Room, a Christmas pop-up. Even the well-known red, white and blue bar sign outside is now partially covered with a red banner sporting a cute logo of a reindeer holding a beer.

Garlands and dangling presents adorn the ceiling, the bar stools are decked out in Santa suits and a corner of the watering hole is now a Christmas living room, complete with an armchair, fireplace, tree and an Anheuser-Busch wagon filled with fake presents.

"We turned this into a magical Christmas wonderland," said Ken Ilg. "It's been a big hit so far."

The staff transformed the bar into The Reindeer Room on Sunday, also covering the bar and a back wall in candy cane wrapping and adding blowup figures including a Nutcracker and a Santa holding a frothy beer. And they're not done yet; this weekend, Christmas lights will be added to the ceiling.

The Ilgs, who live in Aurora, have worked since early October to find all the decorations. That includes the wood fireplace with a light fixture that creates a faux flame, which they found at the Bomb Shelter in Akron.

A big-screen TV at the other end of the bar creates another hearth-type area with an animated fireplace scene on the TV and stockings hanging below.

Holiday cocktails

For the month of December, the Christmas pop-up will feature Christmas karaoke and five special holiday cocktails, including the "Blue Christmas," a nod to Elvis featuring blue Curacao and more, and the "Snow Miser," inspired by the animated TV special "The Year Without a Santa Claus."

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Ken Ilg, who calls his wife "the queen of Christmas," said she came up with the names for the bartenders' holiday concoctions and was the major force behind creating the Christmas pop-up. She's so into Christmas, this year she's putting up seven Christmas trees in their Aurora home, where she transforms every room for the holidays.

"She takes it very seriously," he said.

The Ilgs and their daughter Cameron came up with the name The Reindeer Room together.

"We settled on 'The Reindeer Room' because it had that throw-back feel that we were seeking but also lets the customer know right up front: during the holidays, this is a different place," Lisa Ilg said.

The couple was inspired by a visit last Christmas season to Hudson's restaurant in Hudson, which has been transformed into Blitzen's holiday pop-up for four years, both inside and out.

"We went in and just had an incredible time. The place is beautiful and that's kind of the gold standard, in my view. We're attempting to reach that level in our first year," Ken Ilg said. "We decided right then and there that we had to build this new tradition in our bar."

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A trip to London several years ago also inspired The Reindeer Room decor.

"Every pub is fully decorated for Christmas by the end of October. It's amazing," Lisa Ilg said.

New ownership for The President's Lounge since March

The couple has owned The President's Lounge since March. They bought the bar, which is their first business, from Art Sunday, who opened it in 1977. Sunday, a lifelong Akron resident, died in October at age 94.

Ken Ilg, who grew up in Goodyear Heights just a quarter-mile away from the bar, has known the family for 25 years and is good friends with Art Sunday's son Rob. Rob told Ilg last year before he and his wife moved to Florida that he was worried there would be no one to run The President's Lounge once he left — and the family might have to close its doors.

Ken talked to Lisa and she reminded him of what he had told her back when they started dating: "You said you've always wanted to own a tavern."

Ken Ilg, who has been in the hospitality industry his whole adult life, works at AVI Foodsystems in Warren. Lisa is an attorney in Aurora. They have four children.

At the President's Lounge, all five staff members stayed on board with the ownership change, Ken said. A number of them have 15, 20 or 25 years of experience at the bar.

"We have a great group of customers. Generations of people who have come in here. We have a great group of bartenders," Lisa Ilg said.

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The President's Lounge, located at 341 Darrow Road, is open 9 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday.

"From the very beginning, it catered to the guys on the off shift in the rubber plants," said Ken Ilg, who said the daytime clientele continues to be the bar's strongest business.

Interestingly, the President's Lounge never had anything inside with a presidential theme before the Ilgs added framed photos of Ohio-born presidents and others. They also added presidential caricatures by Tallmadge illustrator Bill Megenhardt.

For the month of December, the presidential images hanging on the walls are all covered up in holiday wrapping paper.

Arts and restaurant writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: New owners turn President's Lounge into Reindeer Room holiday pop-up