3 days ago
Tacoma cocktail bar known for gin has closed for good. ‘Just time to move on'
Gilman House Room 428, a gin-focused cocktail bar that moved into a smaller speakeasy-style space last year, closed permanently after service on May 24.
Its sister bar, tiki haven Devil's Reef, isn't going anywhere, confirmed co-owner Jason Alexander in a phone call on Tuesday. In fact, they just renewed that lease, he said.
The story was different at Room 428 in the Stadium District.
He and his wife Robyn Alexander originally took over the corner storefront at 12 N. Tacoma Ave. in early 2020. That first edition of Gilman House, which opened later that year amid pandemic limitations, garnered a positive reputation for its veg-friendly fare, top-notch cocktails and, somewhat inadvertently, as a brunch hot spot. In a sense, it became more of a restaurant than the bar-with-food they had intended to offer.
Eventually, the now-owners of The Powder Room Champagne Bar approached them about taking over the space. They arranged a sub-lease agreement with the Alexanders and a kitchen-sharing setup, allowing Gilman House to downsize into the more intimate cocktail lounge through a separate entrance. But as the lease came up for renewal this year, said Alexander, they decided it was 'just time to move on.'
'It ran its five-year course,' he continued. 'We were happy. We had a good time there, learned a lot about building out, running two different spots in one space. It was a really good learning opportunity.'
Business was decent, he said, but the neighborhood often seemed sleepier than a cocktail bar needs to really thrive.
Their staff of about five people were informed prior to the closure and left on good terms, according to Alexander. Some had personal pursuits while others had a job lined up.
The closure won't impact The Powder Room, confirmed co-owner Cameron Gilmore in an email this week.
'I am in the process of negotiating my own lease agreement for the space now,' she said Thursday. 'We plan to stay put.'
That's a silver lining for the Stadium District, which in May lost daytime stalwart Art House Cafe and Moshi Ramen Bar, where new owners are planning another concept.
Technically with the address of 8 N. Tacoma Ave., Gilman House Room 428 debuted in June 2024.
Alexander described it as 'a dark, shadow-filled experience with no windows and no doors and maybe you'll escape and maybe you won't,' in a nod to the H.P. Lovecraft stories that inspired both this bar and Devil's Reef in Opera Alley. (That description defies the original corner space, which has lots of windows.)
Like all of the Alexanders' bars over 15-plus years in Tacoma, the new one was built from the ground up, featuring custom booths adorned with pillows and furs, dim lighting and a sensation that you had tucked into a discrete haunt down a dark alley in an 18th-century port town. They shared a kitchen with The Powder Room, serving drink-friendly food with a vegetarian bent: roasted veggies with housemade hummus, salade Nicoise, a portobello burger and pudding pots.
Cocktails have long been the focus for Alexander, though, and Room 428 was no exception. Some, such as the Serranian Sling (gin, cassis, spices and citrus), can still be relished at Devil's Reef.
▪ 706 Opera Alley (Court C), Tacoma,
▪ Wednesday-Thursday 5-10 p.m., Friday-Saturday 5 p.m.-12 a.m.
▪ Details: tiki bar open since 2018 serves some Gilman House cocktails but focuses on carefully concocted rum drinks
