The image above will make sense in a minute. Bear with me.

One of the feature elements of the Highball is the karaoke rooms. There will be seven total, two downstairs located in the diner structure (conveniently across the hall from the restrooms) and five upstairs, of various sizes. As has been mentioned elsewhere, each of these rooms will have their own theme and be custom decorated by Joel Mozersky, who is also responsible for the interior design of the Highball as a whole. If you’ve ever been to Uchi or La Condesa, or have had the good fortune to be on one of the Dixie Chicks’ tour buses, then you’ve seen his work. About his approach to the design of the Highball, Joel said that he is aiming for a late 1950s look, with the bowling lanes setting the tone. He explained his stylistic approach by telling me, “I want it to look like it has always been there and we just fixed it up.”

As for what is in store for the karaoke rooms, Joel was a bit more tight lipped with specifics, saying he wants it to be a surprise. But he did tell me about the themes of the rooms. According to Joel, “there will be a tiki one, an 80’s hair metal room, a disco-Xanadu room, an old school rap room, a country and western room, a new wave room, and a dead head, sixties room.” He added that the karaoke rooms will be the only part of the Highball not based on the era of the lanes. As for the room you see above, that room with the large pole in it, when I asked Joel about it he said that, “fortunately,” this will be the metal room, “so the pole will be used to it’s maximum potential.” Let your imaginations run with that tidbit of info.

Skee ball!

And I don’t want to get anyone prematurely excited, but something entered the Highball last week that is equally as enticing as a metal themed room with a large pole in it, and that is skee ball! Yes indeed, four skee ball lanes have been delivered and are awaiting to be put in place, currently protected under the safety of a very large, translucent tarp. They are very close to where they will be installed, on the northwest corner of the space. As for those other, bigger lanes, they have been installed and are currently undergoing sanding in preparation for finishing. The pin wheels have also been brought into the room. These large wheels will be attached to the end of the lanes in the upright position you see them in now. They move the pins up to the pin setter, which rests above the end of the lane. I also got to spy the ball returns, and snapped a photo of them. They are a sparkly green, perhaps a clue as to the color scheme of the Highball, but for right now we can only guess as to what Joel has in mind.
The rest of the elements of the Highball are coming along very quickly indeed. The walk in refrigerator and freezer have been installed and the tap lines are hanging over the bar area, ready and waiting. The bar itself has a top now, though the finished top has yet to be put in place, and it also looks as though the ceiling is done being painted. All black. And so, as of this writing, it looks like the major chunk of work left to be done is that of the installation of technology: pinsetters, PAs, video projectors, karaoke machines, and all the gear necessary to run a fully functioning diner.

The Kitchen

Speaking of the diner, I spied over Highball chef Trish Eichelberger’s shoulder as she was working on the menu. It is not final yet, but I can say that I did see “obligatory” burger and fries on the menu. Nothing shocking, I know, and that’s probably not what they are going to be called. But she has since told me that the fries will be hand cut and served with home made ketchup. She also said that all meat will be purchased locally. Alas, I have not been able to get confirmation if those paper hats will be a part of the uniform, but Trish thinks it is likely. More details on food and drink will be reported here as they become available to me.
As usual, check out our Flickr site. Things are moving real fast and I’m beginning to make more frequent trips to document it.

Tags: Karaoke Rooms, Pinsetters