The future home of Pacific Standard

According to Citysearch.com, Brooklyn offers over 1200 bars to choose from on any given Friday. So it takes a certain type of courage to enter another watering hole in the liquor-saturated playing field. Two men brave enough to give it a shot, John-Christian Rauschenberg and Jon Stan, aren’t scared of these numbers. After dreaming about opening bar together since they met at Berkeley ten years ago, they signed a lease late last year for a place on Fourth Avenue. The Brooklyn Record caught up with them over the weekend to ask what it takes to open a bar in the Borough of Kings. Pacific Standard, a name that fondly recalls the owners’ West Coast roots, is set to open by May and after months of jumping through Brooklyn’s bureaucratic hoops, Stan and Rauschenberg are more than ready to sit back and have a beer.

You have to know a bar owner in order to own a bar, Rauschenberg stated while Stan hung dry wall in the other room. There are too many critical details that could potentially ruin you but that you would never find out otherwise. The two men spent hours securing financing, finding a good broker (they went through over thirty!), negotiating lease terms, securing a commercial certificate of occupancy, and applying for a building permit and a liquor license with the Boerum Hill Community Board. They discovered that a lawyer, or expediter, was crucial in working with the city to get back licenses and permits within weeks (instead of months). And it’s not quite over — before opening for business they still have to get a health permit, a fire inspection, and be approved for insurance coverage. Stan and Rauschenberg are quick to point out that it’s a risky, expensive, and frustrating process that is next to impossible to navigate on your own.

Despite what Rauschenberg says were incredible legal and construction obstacles (all of which have been humorously bemoaned on their blog) he and Stan are now well into the fun part: construction and carpentry. Between tracking down electricians, plumbers, and an HVAC crew, the two men have enlisted the help of friends and family to pull together the components of a functional establishment. Though plenty of work remains, they are encouraged by a warm reception from the neighborhood and the support of other bar-owning friends. This particular block of Fourth Avenue, between St. Mark’s Place and Bergen, is slowly developing a new flavor; since Mule, a tiny jewel of a café, opened a few years ago, two more bars have followed, Cherry Tree and 4th Avenue Bar. Rauschenberg reports that the other bars have been enthusiastic and generous, perceiving Pacific Standard as another valuable draw to the previously sleepy avenue. A few years ago nobody thought that 4th Avenue could be more than tire shops, but that’s really changing, Rauschenberg says. Fourth Avenue is hot.

Pacific Standard is located at 82 Fourth Avenue.

Pacific Standard [Website]
Pacific Standard [Blog]