Last weekend, Bummer City Inc. — the company behind local spots like Analog Arcade Bar, Armored Gardens and Devon's Complaint Dept. — celebrated its ninth birthday.
Next weekend, it's giving itself a gift: Take Cover Tiki Club, a new craft cocktail lounge located at 1401 Fifth Ave. in downtown Moline. The bar is scheduled to open on Friday, Oct.
11, according to Bummer City founder Dan Bush. Bummer City is opening a Tiki Club in downtown Moline called Take Cover. Almost a decade after launching Bummer City, Bush said he's learned that in order to create the next great bar or restaurant, the business can't just compete with other bars and restaurants.
It has to compete with home, too. That's why immersion is crucial. "This is definitely our most stylized thing we've ever done," Bush said, seated in a dimly lit booth at the back of the bar.
"We've spent more time committing to the bit here than we have, I think, in anything we've ever done." Inside, there are rainforest green booths, paintings of jungle cats and wainscoting on almost every single black, brick wall. From the second you walk up to the bright green Take Cover exterior, it's clear that there was acute attention to detail.
Even the drinkware is Tiki mask-shaped. It's hard to believe Take Cover was once a Jimmy John's sandwich shop. "The only thing we didn't do a whole lot to is the back of house, but literally every surface we had to change," Bush said.
"The ceilings themselves took us several weeks." Bush and o.