For the Halletts, owning bars is the family business. First, Josh Hallett’s uncle owned one in San Francisco. Now, Josh’s partners in The Alley, 1031 M St., are his mom and a high school friend. The manager is his sister.And on the day that bar opened just over two months ago, a brother signed the papers on his own bar in Hastings.Josh Hallett first noticed the building that would become his bar, the one that used to house the Silver Spoke Saloon, about a year ago.He tried for three months to buy the 7,000 square-foot building by himself, then finally took on his mom, Kandy Hallett, and Jamie Michael as partners last September.

The place had sat vacant for three years, so Josh had to spend three months fixing it up.

“People always asked us what the theme of the bar was, and we honestly didn’t have one. We just wanted a laid-back place,” said manager Courtney Hallett.

Josh pictured the place as industrial, exposed, open — not necessarily beachy.

So when Michael suggested palm trees, the idea took awhile to grow on him.

The two that were flown in from Florida reach toward the ceiling at either end of a long central table and “add a little bit of life to the place,” Josh said.

Most customers think they’re fake, but they’re real — they need to be watered every two weeks, and one is about to shed some leaves.

“There’s really no other bar in Lincoln like this,” Josh said. “We don’t want to be like any other bar. We want to do some different things.”

One of those “different things” is introducing to Lincoln Sax’s Oven Fresh pizza, a “big deal” in Hastings and other parts of Nebraska.

The dough comes frozen, but all the rest is made fresh in about seven minutes — longer if you order more than one hamburger, pepperoni, Canadian bacon, combo or cheese pie for lunch or dinner.

“It’s really good. It’s the only bad thing about working here — you eat it all the time,” Courtney said.

Another “different thing” is the 32-ounce Mason jars that come filled with Boulevard for $4.50 or Budweiser, Bud Light or Bud Select for $3.75.

That’s where the bar’s theme eventually came from, borrowed from the Toby Keith song “I Love This Bar.” Advertisements, menus and posters read, “I love this bar … we drink from a mason jar.”

The jars very well could figure into another “different thing” coming up on The Alley’s agenda. On Wednesday nights through the summer, Budweiser will sponsor a caps tournament in which the reigning two-person team will win two motorcycles.

The game must be a small-town thing, Josh and Courtney said, because most people they talk to aren’t familiar with it. Basically, two chairs face each other about eight feet apart, and players sit on their side and try to throw caps into the other team’s cup. The winner is the first to sink seven, not counting those tosses that are immediately countered and canceled out.

Keno and a beer garden should also arrive by summertime. Long-term plans include a deck and expansion into the rest of the building, which would double the bar’s size to 7,000 square feet.

Article from the Journal Star 2005

Beer Garden, Heated/Covered Smoking Lounge, Outdoor Bar and Bathrooms, Ourdoor TV's and Deck overlooking M street!