The highly popular nightlife hot spot in Turlock, Red Brick Café, currently located at 153 S. Broadway, will be moving from its current location to a vacant building on the corner of Main Street and Broadway Avenue, across from Dust Bowl Brewery.
Red Brick Café has operated for about two and a half years in conjunction with On Broadway with Two Guys, a catering and banquet hall started by the owners at the current facility. The owners will no longer be running a banquet hall at the new location on Main Street.
The new venue for this popular spot will include an approximately 500 square foot outdoor seating area, a taco cart, a 300+ square-foot dance floor, live entertainment/DJ booth, and VIP area, while staying open until 2am.
While the current Red Brick location is open until 1:30am on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, the new location has been approved by both the Turlock Police Department and Planning Commission to stay open until 2am.
“It is being well run at their current location, and that’s why the police were okay with it staying open until 2am at their new location,” stated Planning Services Director Debbie Whitmore at Thursday’s Planning Commission Meeting.
While security at Red Brick Café has been enforced and has not experienced any problems to date, the new location will require a higher level of security due to the adjacent business and buildings.
Troy Thoreson, a property owner nearby the new location, expressed his concern regarding security at the meeting, stating that he would request and emphasis on security, specifically around the parameters of the building. Even with his concerns, however, Thoreson also expressed that he was glad to see the business making the change.
“We’re all for development in downtown,” Thoreson stated. “So anyone that we can add will definitely be a plus.”
Red Brick Café owner Steve Backus assured both Thoreson and the Commission that there would be extra security, including security personnel who would check the parameters of the building every 30 minutes. Backus also noted his business already voluntarily provides more security than required by the City of Turlock.
Backus reported that the current location on Broadway Avenue has been up for sale the past four months, and the new location would be likely to open around February 2013.
“We are looking forward to opening our doors at this location,” said Philip A. Rheinschild Jr., co-owner of the building at Main and Broadway. “We are excited to positively impact the revitalization of downtown Turlock with the addition of both a new restaurant on Main Street and an environment for all to safely enjoy Turlock’s nightlife.”
The building at Main Street and Broadway has had boarded up windows covered with graffiti and controversial political signs posted by another co-owner of the building as a reaction to acts of vandalism on the property. Now that there is a new tenant, the graffiti has been cleaned up.
In addition to the relocation of the Red Brick bar, a new restaurant will open on Main Street within Red Brick’s new site.
After the Planning Commission Meeting, owners of Red Brick were excited to announce that the new restaurant would be serving lunch and dinner menu items such as steaks, pastas, and fishes, while also including a gluten free and vegan menu.
The Turlock Planning Commission unanimously voted to approve the Conditional Use Permit for the opening of Red Brick at 146 W. Main Street.
“We’re just very excited to be moving to this new location, where we’ll have a really great restaurant, serving great food, and continuing to provide a fun, safe nightlife at a great new facility on Main Street,” said Stephen Backus, co-owner of Red Brick.
Red Brick owners are excited about working toward the energizing Downtown Turlock.
“People are going to enjoy the new place and we can’t wait to open the doors on Main Street,” said Red Brick co-owner Ed Samo.
