Murphys, CA…It is always great to see a project come to fruition and another business open in our area. If you happened to drive through Murphys the last few days you had to notice the packed parking lots and the lines at our areas newest dining establishment. The Watering Hole is now open and putting smiles on many, many faces. A few photos below are from Thursday evening last week.

A bit more about The Watering Hole from their website…

“iThis project began on a Summer afternoon in 2014, when I was teaching my two boys how to ride their bikes in the church parking lot in Murphys across from The Car Doctor. I had owned my previous restaurant, Alchemy, for seven years at that point and was starting to think about what my next project would be. I knew it would involve beer to a large extent, but the concept was still a bit nebulous. I noticed the new buildings that had recently been erected on Bret Harte Drive and were being occupied by Newsome Harlow and Lila and Sage. I thought that a beer bar in that area of town, away from the traffic of Main Street but close enough to walk to from most lodging and houses, would be ideal.

I walked across the street from the church and knocked on the door of Gold Electric. I knew that Jim Heryford, the Owner of Gold Electric, also owned those new buildings, and I pitched the idea of a new beer bar to him. I knew Jim as a good customer of Alchemy and a beer fan. He had been thinking about developing more of his land around Gold Electric, and we discussed possibly using the Gold Electric storage yard. I wrote up a business plan for Jim, and we sat on the idea for a while. It turned out that the Gold Electric storage yard wasn’t going to work for various technical reasons, so we started casting our gazes around town. We inquired about quite a few properties for the next couple years that would have fit our parameters of not being on Main St., having ample parking, and being within easy walking distance of most of the Murphys population. Finally, Jim was able to have our current location at 223 Big Trees Road, the former site of a lumber yard, feed store, and most recently, window shop sectioned off of the larger property that extends from the former Lucky Penny all the way to the stoplight, across the street from the post office. Jim purchased this plot in August 2016, I believe.

The next stage was for me to sell Alchemy, which I felt ready to do, and that sale was finalized in January 2018. We spent the first few months of 2018 brainstorming and revising architectural plans with Michelle Plotnik. It took most of 2018 to perfect the plans, have them approved by the county, and give the tenants of the old building time to move. In early 2019 the old lumber yard building was demolished except for three walls. A new foundation was poured, and as of September 2019, we have exterior and interior walls done, with painting, floors, and fixtures to come soon. I hope to open The Watering Hole on Big Trees Road by the end of 2019.”