Plans are done. Now the fun begins

Just before Christmas we got the plans finished to submit to the City of Fremont.  I think we have everything in order so it shouldn't take too long to approve.  Then construction begins!!!!!

For now we are out shopping, shopping and more shopping for stuff.  We have the Humidors ordered and thats good.  They are custom made and have about a 2 month lead time.  But, we don't have anything else.  On Thursday several of us went down to the Macy's outlet in Union City.  They have a warehouse full of furniture at excellent prices.  Most of the furniture is in great shape and brand new.  We started by looking at nice leather chairs to enjoy a smoke in.

We were sure before we got to the store that we should have all chairs an no couches or love seats.  However, I think we might have had a possible change of heart with some of the selections.  

A love seat isn't so bad as long as you can get enough spacing.  I really like the look of the love seat to the left.  It is very comfortable to sit and and really has a nice touch of class.  There is also a little debate about going with Stadium seating in front of the TV for the sports events.  Not a bad idea and the chairs are very nice to sit in.  Plus you have built in cup holders and they recline!

  

We also built into the plans to have a bar in the lounge.  Right now we will not be able to sell any beverages.  But before we started we did have some discussions with the City and a Beer and Wine license is possible.  As soon as we open we will apply for the Beer and Wine license.  But we still need a bar before we open and the Macy's outlet had a fricken bar!!!  It has a marble countertop and brass footrail and everybody agrees this is awesome.   We need to do a little thinking on how to make this work with the current plans but the awesomeness should come through

If you want to make the lounge comfortable and a place people enjoy smoking cigars you have to keep it clean and neat at all times.  Sitting down to an overflowing ashtray with ashes all over the place sucks.  So, we are going to go with the best ashtrays for smoking cigars any of us have found.  They are called the Big Stinky from Stinky Cigars and I highly recommend them if you enjoy a cigar every now and then, especially with friends.  They have nice wide bowls with well spaced places to put your cigars on.  You don't have to worry about ashes spilling out of this bad boy.

Next week we are meeting with a company to design the signs.  Since the front of the building is facing Mowry avenue a very busy street in Fremont we need nice clean, bold signs.  Something you will glance up and notice as you drive by at 40MPH and say "Hey there is Ohlone Cigar Lounge, I'll need to go and check it out sometime".