Wine. Cheese. Bocce ball. Set to open in late November, the Guadalupe Social Club will be home to many things—some with age restrictions, and others without.
The wine bar’s co-founders Brooks Van Wingerden and Lexie Bell, two mothers, both with three children of their own, aimed to create a unique space for wine tasting with a family-friendly atmosphere.
Once the bar’s outdoor patio is complete, guests will be able to take advantage of a bocce ball court, a giant chess set, and jumbo Connect Four. There will be gaming opportunities inside the bar as well, and a private area for party reservations with a lounge-like setting, complete with a couch, TV, and Nintendo games. Families that flock for the brie will hopefully stay for the Wii.
In the lounge there’s also a retro arcade machine—with games like Metal Slug and a handful of other titles—that holds a special place in Bell’s heart.
“It’s my family arcade game,” said Bell, whose childhood home included a game room lined with arcade offerings, including the Metal Slug machine.
Bell recently discovered the game in her parents’ storage unit and took it off their hands.
“My mom’s like, ‘You’re doing me a favor,’ and I’m like, ‘Great, you’re doing me a favor,’” Bell said with a laugh.
Born and raised on the Central Coast, Bell moved to Southern California during her college years while attending the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles. She used her knack for design to oversee the overall look of the Guadalupe Social Club.
“I wanted it to feel homey because the space is really big,” said Bell, who adorned the venue with Sputnik lights and other sources of warm tones, many of which she found at Modelhom Furniture and Design in Grover Beach.
“It’s kind of hard to make a huge space feel homey. … We want people to stay here, to feel welcome to come in and stay here.”
Bell is responsible for the visual components of the Guadalupe Social Club, while her business partner mainly handles “the nitty-gritty financial stuff,” according to Van Wingerden.
“She just has a really good vision for it. … Everything you see in here is her,” said Van Wingerden, who described Bell’s design choices as modern, while paying tribute to Guadalupe’s historic elements. “It’s been a good balance. … There’s just so much character in the town.
“We think that there’s just a lot of potential here.”
Van Wingerden mentioned the city’s plans to restore the Royal Theater while noting the need for more family outing opportunities in Guadalupe.
“We each have three kids, so it was super important for us to develop a space that was really family friendly,” Van Wingerden added. “That’s why the goal with this is to really be a destination.”
“The community needs it,” Bell agreed. “Everyone’s been saying that for years now, and now it’s finally happening.”
Van Wingerden currently works full time as the national accounts and private label manager for the Margerum Wine Company. The Guadalupe wine bar will be featuring some of the brands she helped develop with Margerum—including a private label that was made specifically for the Guadalupe Social Club, she said.
“We called it the 1922 Cuvee in honor of our building, which was built in 1922,” Van Wingerden said, noting that it’s a Rhone red blend of 45 percent grenache, 30 percent syrah, 15 percent mourvèdre, 5 percent cinsault, 5 percent counoise.
“I’ve been in the wine industry for about 13 years and have always wanted to do a wine bar,” said Van Wingerden, who purchased a 100-year-old building in Guadalupe with her husband about a year ago.
Renovations on the property began in June to make Van Wingerden’s dream of owning a wine bar come true.
Bell partnered up with Van Wingerden during a casual conversation, as the two are next-door neighbors.
“She had heard me talking about it, and one day was like, ‘I want to do it with you,’” said Van Wingerden, who often co-hosts dinner and wine get-togethers with Bell for friends and family. “We entertain all the time, so it’s nice to just have a space that we can have basically an extension of our homes.”
Arts Editor Caleb Wiseblood calls dibs on the Wii. Tell him your favorite Mario Kart character at cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Nov 3-9, 2022.
