1187 Unterwasser

I missed Burning Man this year due to an ill-timed relocation to Austin from Salt Lake City. It was kind of surprising to me just how much I missed going, and seeing all my friends updates on Facebook etc about their preparations was a real downer.

I’m definitely in for 2011 though and I’ve already started plans for the next year. In 2009 I did a one-off called ‘First Call’ that ran from 6 am to 10 am on Wednesday morning. I served drinks during these hours and your only choices were Irish Coffee, or Irish Carbombs (with a home brew stout I made myself). It was an amazing success. It was really cool to attract a cross section of people who had been out partying all night, and those people just waking up to start their day. By 9 am we had about 30 people milling about in the street conversing and enjoying each others company for a moment before wandering off to further destinations.

Getting up at 4:30 am to brew 5 gallons of coffee was a real chore, but ended up being totally worth it, and one of the most rewarding parts of my burn last year. So with this in mind I really wanted to expand on the First Call idea and make it something that happened more than just once. Over the last month or two I’ve been thinking about just what I want to accomplish. Did I want to run a mornings-only bar every day? That seemed a little tough. I didn’t really want to have to be in the sack every night by 10 just so I could get up to serve drinks in the morning. But I liked the bar idea, and the whole Irish coffee / Carbombs thing seemed to suggest a direction, so I decided to open an Irish bar in the desert.

Being Burning Man it couldn’t just be any old Irish bar. Irish bars and Victorian styling go hand in hand, much the same way that Victorian aesthetic and Steampunk do. And Burning Man goes hand in hand with Steampunk, so there I was. Steampunk Irish bar at Burning Man. It sounded too perfect to pass up.

But what about the name? Sure, I could stick with First Call, but that seemed more like a tongue in cheek reference to alcoholism than a proper Irish bar. One of my favorite regular spots at Burning Man is the White Dragon, a noodle bar named after the White Dragon in the movie Blade Runner. 1187 Unterwasser. Thats the hotel. What? Where I live. A mostly throw away line from the beginning of that movie, but theres something about the dour picture it paints. The nonchalant way its tossed out serves to tell the viewer that this is a strange place, where things aren’t quite what you are used to, or comfortable with. People don’t live in hotels. And they definitely don’t live underwater.

I liked the moody tone it set, but I’m not sure its right for an Irish Bar, so I’ve been giving it some more thought. Moving in this direction has lead me to some other ideas, and I’ve got an entire year to lock it down.

Regardless of the name, when you’re out on the playa next year and find yourself thirsty, stop by our place and have a drink one evening. Then come back the next morning and have another. We’ll be there to pour you a stout or some Jameson and send you off on your next adventure.