OTTAWA — The threat of losing an unused liquor license was enough to motivate an Ottawa man into opening a lounge that looks and feels, ironically enough, like a Prohibition-era speakeasy.
That’s the origin story for the Oak & Ember Luxury Lounge, 226 W. Main St., Ottawa, a posh lounge specializing in cocktails and alcohol-free mocktails that opened Friday, Sept. 5. They hope to attract visitors from throughout the region.
“The one thing that we’ve seen in most of the similar places we’ve been to, they call them ‘speakeasies,’” owner Tom Giesken said. “So we were trying to do a speakeasy. It was the darker colors, the dimmer lights.”
