ORLANDO, Fla. – In downtown Orlando, keen-eyed bargoers might discover a cocktail lounge hidden in a local historic building.
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At The Phoenix building along South Magnolia Avenue, guests can find a door with a couple of stanchions and a velvet rope outside.
After the doorman allows you in, you’ll be urged to take the elevator up to the third floor of the building.
Upon reaching that floor, you’ll find yourself in a room with several shelves of books and some antique props sitting around.
However, there’s only one thing here you’ll want to touch.
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Upon pulling open the conspicuous bookshelf in the middle of the wall, you’ll find Mathers Social Gathering — a cocktail lounge fashioned after an old-time speakeasy.
The lounge is filled with historic images and old-fashioned furniture, with tables and trunks throughout the room being plastered with QR codes to show guests the drink menu.
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Guests can seat themselves in the bar at any of the available couches or lounge chairs — with few exceptions.
Eventually, a waitperson will come around to take your order, and you can relax or chat with others until your drink is ready, at which time it will be brought to you.
A couple areas of the lounge are considered “VIP” areas, and they must be reserved ahead of time if you want to sit there.
According to the bar’s website, the building was constructed over 130 years ago.
A fire in 1884 destroyed several nearby buildings, though this one “miraculously” survived, later being purchased, converted into a furniture store and renamed “Mathers.”
In the 1980s, the building received “extensive renovations,” at it was renamed The Phoenix Building after “rising from the ashes,” the website reads.
Nowadays, the third floor of the building features several historic photos to remind patrons of its past.
Many signature drinks are available to patrons, including “The Phoenix” (tequila, jalapeno, mango nectar and lime), the “Mathers Frose” (frozen wine and juice), and the “Strawberry Fields” (Hendricks gin, St. Germaine, strawberries and lemon).
The “Bathtub Gin” (Waterloo gin, ground lavender, honey, simple blend, lemon and half-and-half) is also available in a collectible “gin tub” for $35, reminiscent of the tub found near the entrance to the lounge.
Once it’s time to pay your tab, a waitperson will provide you with your receipt in an old tome. Opening it reveals signatures and scribblings from many of the previous patrons at the bar.
There are also several “House Rules” that guests are required to follow, which include:
- Guests are asked to dress sharply. No bright clubwear
- Footwear should be classy. No flip flops, crocs or colorful/worn sneakers
- No graphic tees, sportswear, scrubs, shorts, or tank tops
- If it’s not a fedora, tophat, or newsboy hat, please check it with the doorman
- No ripped jeans or shorts, rompers, swim trunks, overalls, or cargo pants
- No shorts anytime other than summer
- No “sexy time”
- Guests are asked to “speak easy.” That means keeping voices at a reasonable level and refraining from “hooting or hollering”
- If a guest finds that they drank too much “giggle water,” they will be asked to “dry up.” If such a guest doesn’t have a ride home, the bar will call for one instead
- No fighting allowed
- When guests decide to “get a wiggle on” (i.e. leave the bar), all liquor is required to remain inside the lounge. “Drink up or leave it”
The bar is open from 4 p.m. - 2 a.m. on Tuesday through Saturday.
For more information on the lounge or a menu, click here.
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