Raising the bar: New owners take on tradition, improvements with saloon

It's after 6 o'clock on a Thursday night at the Georgetown Saloon and there's a shift change in progress. The dining crowd is thinning out and through the doorway to the right, the bar is starting to fill up.

The new owners of the saloon pride themselves on the variety of their patrons that

"Some people who come here have millions and some have not much at all," Nancy Silverman said.

Regardless of drink preference, they all have a good time.

Linda Palermo and Nancy Silverman took over the reins of the Georgetown Saloon in Redding last year after the original owners retired. They were each looking for restaurants and when Silverman called Palermo to tell her the Georgetown Saloon was for sale, Palermo was not thrilled. She was looking for a restaurant in the Stamford area, but the history and richness of the Georgetown Saloon proved too much to resist.

Palermo saw the saloon as a substitute for the large family she always wanted but never had, while Silverman was drawn to the romantic aspects of owning a restaurant and providing a "good product."

Palermo, a lifelong singer and songwriter, is a psychologist by training and has a practice focused on family counseling and therapy. Silverman comes to the saloon more directly having had 17 years of experience in the hotel and restaurant field.

The show must go on

At first, the Georgetown Saloon's long history and tradition was daunting to the new owners. While both Palermo and Silverman wanted to improve on certain offerings, they wanted to make sure that the rich heritage of the saloon remained intact and the regulars remained supportive.

Once the regulars realized that the new owners cherished the saloon's traditions as much as they did, they accepted the new leadership.

The new owners expanded the wine list and the menu, keeping favorite comfort foods like chicken wings and fries, but adding some vegetarian items to give patrons more choice.

"We try to pair food with wine, that's going really well and we're trying to grow with that," Palermo said.

The saloon has been a haunt for local bands throughout its history and being a singer and songwriter, keeping up that tradition was close to Palermo's heart.

Musicians, like Todd Wolfe, who played bass for Sheryl Crowe, have been known to play at the saloon.

Ira Stone has played the guitar for more than 30 years, and for the past 10, The Stoneband has often performed at the Georgetown Saloon. He said the presence of a soundstage sets the saloon apart from other bars. It is also one of the few places where a musician can play original music, he said. Dancing to music is the norm and Stone recalls nights when he played at the saloon late into the night and there were still receptive patrons listening.

Sundays are kid's nights and usually a band plays between 6 and 9 p.m., and parents and kids both go on the dance floor.

Palermo calls the dance floor the great equalizer for every man, woman and child who steps upon it.

Tough job

The Georgetown Saloon has five full-time staff members and 20 part-timers. On a given night, three wait-staff cover the floor, along with a hostess and a bartender. On a busy night, the 80-seat dining room may turn over twice.

The two partners use different skills to keep the business running.

Palermo manages the staff and uses what she calls "interpersonal creativity" to communicate the saloon's essence to the audience through words and pictures, some of which hang on the wall.

Silverman is in charge of finances and implementing "the systems," or the day-to-day operation of the place.

Both women say running the saloon has taken a toll on their personal lives, but that is a price they are willing to accept.

In the last seat at the end of the bar's half-circle, Frank Moore, loyal patron for 26 years, is drinking a beer. It doesn't take long to realize that his cynical wisecracking masks an appreciative patron. After a few disparaging remarks, he says, "These girls really care about their customer."

Later, after the crowd has left, he mentions that his favorite saloon raised $1,000 for breast cancer research.

"It's hard to come into something that's been here for 26 years. It was like buying a house with the guests already in it," Palermo said.