New Western-themed cocktail bar is coming to this SLO County spot — and concerts are next
A new Western-themed cocktail lounge is coming to San Luis Obispo County.
Club Car Bar will celebrate its grand opening in the historic Templeton Mercantile building on Friday.
Located at 508 South Main Street in Templeton, the building also houses Pig Iron restaurant, Templeton Mercantile store and Engine Room Saloon.
According to Club Car Bar and Pig Iron co-owner Taylor Odenwald, Club Car Bar’s name and ambience pay homage to Templeton’s roots as a bustling railroad town in the late 19th century.
From 1886 to 1889, Templeton served as the last train station heading south on the Southern Pacific Railroad line, according to the San Luis Obispo County Visitor’s Guide.
“Templeton was the place to be in the 1880s,” Odenwald said, and he hopes to help the town reach those heights again.
New SLO County cocktail bar pays tribute to railroad roots.
Since the 1880s the Templeton Mercantile building has housed a variety of enterprises including Templeton’s post office, a saddle shop, Miss Finley’s Finishing School, the Iron Horse restaurant and, most recently, AJ Spurs restaurant, Odenwald said.
The building holds personal meaning for Odenwald, whose first job was working as a bus boy for AJ Spurs, he said.
Odenwald and his four partners purchased the building in late 2020, and have been developing various parts of the structure to house businesses over the past two years.
Much of the original architecture has been preserved, Odenwald said, and the original entrance was fully restored.
Club Car Bar features original murals that were hand-painted by local artist Hugh Slayden.
The murals depict scenes from the Old West that a traveler might have spotted while looking out the windows of a train car, Odenwald said.
The wooden floor, which is entirely hand-cut and hand-placed, was inspired by a floor in the Country Music Hall of Fame, Odenwald said. It took three months to create using recycled beams donated by Big Creek Lumber, he said.
Although the owners considered naming the bar after Miss Finley’s Finishing School, Odenwald said, they eventually decided on a name inspired by the train car that sold food and refreshments to passengers.
What’s on the menu at Club Car Bar?
Club Car Bar will offer beers on tap, “vaquero-themed” bites and the kinds of classic cocktails “that haven’t been seen at local restaurants in years,” Odenwald said.
“The menu includes everything from char-grilled elote (corn) to sweet and savory mole burritos,” he said.
The bar will host a variety of community events, including live music concerts, murder mystery nights and will also be available for private rentals, Odenwald said.
Karaoke nights will take place the last Saturday of every month and trivia nights will happen weekly on Wednesday nights.
Trivia nights will be led by Professor O’Neil and Dr. Ricky, who held trivia events at Broad Street Public House in San Luis Obispo before its recent closure, Odenwald said.
Odenwald hopes to attract music acts with a state-of-the-art sound system that was once used in Cirque du Soleil shows at Bellagio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, he said.
“We’re hoping to provide a community space that local bands and touring bands can play at,” Odenwald said.
“Club Car Bar will rival the sound quality of any venue on the Central Coast,” he said.
Club Car Bar’s grand opening event will feature music by Monte Mills and the Lucky Horseshoe Band, who Odenwald hopes will draw a large crowd.
Other acts playing at the bar in coming weeks include Watashi Wa and Slow Coming Day.
More about Club Car Bar
Club Car Bar will be open 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday from and 5 p.m. to midnight Thursday through Saturday.
For more information, go to templetonmercantile.com or follow the business on Instagram at @clubcarbartempleton.
