What's next for McMinnville's Deluxe Billiards?

Fate of Deluxe hangs in the balance

Story from McMinnville N-R/News-Register 10/27/2016

Photos from Mac News 12/2014

As workers renovate the apartments gracing the second-floor of the Douglas Hotel building, and negotiations continue with a potential tenant for ground floor space at the corner of Third and Galloway, the fate of The Deluxe Billiard Parlor hangs in the balance.

The popular bar is living on borrowed time. Owner Mark Baisch, whose parents purchased it in 1972, is scrambling to find a new location before his scheduled Dec. 20 eviction.

At his request, building owners Denny and Lucetta Elmer have offered him an extension until the end of the year. But that’s not much of a reprieve.

Other existing tenants are being invited to stay, but not The Deluxe.

“We don’t have a plan,” Denny Elmer said. But he said, “We know we want something a little quieter in the evening for the tenants upstairs.”

Baisch is working with a commercial real estate broker to find a new home, preferably downtown. He concedes that it’s tough to envision The Deluxe in any other space, but sees that as his only option at this point.

“It’s hard for me to imagine,” he said Thursday. “But I’m trying to keep a positive attitude and hope that something comes up.”

Baisch took a look at the Taylor Dale building on the southeast corner of Third and Ford, but ruled it out.

“They’re asking for $12,000 a month,” he said. “That’s a little out of my league.”

Thanks to the bar’s popular owner, deep roots and dedicated, multi-generational clientèle, it long ago transcended the moniker of merely a “long-time McMinnville business.”  

Like the Blue Moon a few blocks west, it’s become an iconic hangout, opening early for workers finishing the night shift and closing late for serious pub patrons.

Twenty-somethings go there for a drink, burger and pool game. They mingle with older patrons who might be found enjoying pinot and pasta at Nick’s Italian Restaurant another night, or even earlier the same night.

The Deluxe has operated out of 711 N.E. Third St. for 65 years. Prior to that, Baisch said, it was occupied by Timmreck & McNicol Jewlers.

“I’m not sure the year it was established there,” he said, “but it was turn-of-the century, I know that.”

The bar moved to its current location, closer to the railroad tracks, in 1951. It was purchased by his parents, Harriet and Eldore Baisch, in 1972.

Baisch started working there when he turned 21. He arranged to pay off his parents’ loan when his father died in 1985.

Having now worked there 44 years, Baisch occasionally finds himself carding the children of customers he carded decades ago.

The Elmers, who own other properties downtown, bought the building around 2008. They’s been mulling a remodel for years.

The building features 14 apartments upstairs. For years, it hosted a computer shop in the corner space.

The second-longest ground floor tenant is the Thai Country Restaurant. The Odditiorum, an eclectic art gallery, recently moved into the space between Thai Country and The Deluxe.

Originally known as the Eggleston Block, the two-story stuccoed concrete structure was put up in 1928 to house the Hotel Bays. Later housing the Douglas, it featured rooms upstairs and a lobby and set of office tenants downstairs.

The land and building cost a combined $50,000, according to the McMinnville Downtown Association’s Stroll Historic McMinnville guide.

The structure has housed several prominent businesses over the years, including the As You Like It Café, The First Motor Company and Maloney’s Barber Shop, in addition to Timmreck & McNicol.

Renovation began earlier this year on the upstairs apartments and first-floor corner space.

The Elmers originally envisioned a boutique hotel upstairs. They settled instead on upgrading the existing apartments, aiming them for people in the market for downtown living, but might set a couple aside for tourist rental.

The corner shop remains a work in progress. But a sign in the window advertises upstairs apartments at “Douglas on Third,” with a starting price point of $800 a month.

“We’ve got some very interested people, a really good tenant,” for the corner space, he said. He declined to identify the prospective tenant, beyond saying it was an existing Third Street business interested in relocating.

As for Baisch, he said he’ll retire if he can’t come up with a new location. He said his biggest concern isn’t for himself, but for his half-dozen employees.

“I’ve got a number of people who work for me I’m concerned about,” he said. “They depend on me to make a living and so I’m trying to find a new location so I can continue business and they can continue to make a living.”